Sunrise Along Shore
Athwart the harbor lingers yetThe ashen gleam of breaking day,And where the guardian cliffs are setThe noiseless shadows steal away;But all the winnowed eastern skyIs flushed with many a tender hue,And spears of light are smiting throughThe ranks where huddled sea-mists fly.
Across the ocean, wan and gray,Gay fleets of golden ripples come,For at the birth-hour of the dayThe roistering, wayward winds are dumb.The rocks that stretch to meet the tideAre smitten with a ruddy glow,And faint reflections come and goWhere fishing boats at anchor ride.
All life leaps out to greet the light—The shining sea-gulls dive and soar,The swallows whirl in dizzy flight,And sandpeeps flit along the shore.From every purple landward hillThe banners of the morning fly,But on the headlands, dim and high,The fishing hamlets slumber still.
One boat alone beyond the barIs sailing outward blithe and free,To carry sturdy hearts afarAcross those wastes of sparkling sea;Staunchly to seek what may be wonFrom out the treasures of the deep,To toil for those at home who sleepAnd be the first to greet the sun.
Words in this poem
- ashen a.
- Of or pertaining to the ash tree. [See Ash, the tree.]
- wayward a.
- Taking one's own way; disobedient; froward; perverse; willful. [OE. weiward, for aweiward, i. e., turned away. See Away, and -ward.]
- flit a.
- Nimble; quick; swift. See Fleet.
- landward adv.
- Toward the land.
- blithe a.
- Gay; merry; sprightly; joyous; glad; cheerful; as, a blithe spirit. [AS. bli blithe, kind; akin to Goth. blei kind, Icel. bli mild, gentle, Dan. & Sw. blid gentle, D. blijd blithe, OHG. blidi kind, blithe.]
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sunrise Along Shore is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Watchman and Other Poems (New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1917; Toronto: McClelland, Goodchild and Stewart, 1916), Internet Archive; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: L. M. Montgomery, Sunrise Along Shore, in The Watchman and Other Poems (1916), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/montgomery-watchman/sunrise-along-shore.html, id L29371.
Form and metre
Sunrise Along Shore is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCDDC. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABABCDDC yetA · dayB · setA · awayB · skyC · hueD · throughD · flyC
- 2 ABABCDDC grayA · comeB · dayA · dumbB · tideC · glowD · goD · rideC
- 3 ABABCDDC lightA · soarB · flightA · shoreB · hillC · flyD · highD · stillC
- 4 ABABCDDC barA · freeB · afarA · seaB · wonC · deepD · sleepD · sunC
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Athwart the harbor lingers yet | 8 | ˘/·/˘/˘· |
| The ashen gleam of breaking day, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And where the guardian cliffs are set | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The noiseless shadows steal away; | 8 | ·/˘/··˘/ |
| But all the winnowed eastern sky | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| Is flushed with many a tender hue, | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| And spears of light are smiting through | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The ranks where huddled sea-mists fly. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Across the ocean, wan and gray, | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| Gay fleets of golden ripples come, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| For at the birth-hour of the day | 8 | ····/··· |
| The roistering, wayward winds are dumb. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| The rocks that stretch to meet the tide | 8 | ········ |
| Are smitten with a ruddy glow, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And faint reflections come and go | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Where fishing boats at anchor ride. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| All life leaps out to greet the light— | 8 | ········ |
| The shining sea-gulls dive and soar, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The swallows whirl in dizzy flight, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And sandpeeps flit along the shore. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| From every purple landward hill | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| The banners of the morning fly, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| But on the headlands, dim and high, | 8 | ········ |
| The fishing hamlets slumber still. | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| One boat alone beyond the bar | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Is sailing outward blithe and free, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| To carry sturdy hearts afar | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Across those wastes of sparkling sea; | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| Staunchly to seek what may be won | 8 | /˘······ |
| From out the treasures of the deep, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To toil for those at home who sleep | 8 | ········ |
| And be the first to greet the sun. | 8 | ········ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.