The Gulls
Soft is the sky in the mist-kirtled east,Light is abroad on the sea,All of the heaven with silver is fleeced,Holding the sunrise in fee.Lo! with a flash and uplifting of wingsDown where the long ripples break,Cometh a bevy of glad-hearted things,'Tis morn, for the gulls are awake.
Slumberous calm on the ocean and shoreComes with the turn of the tide;Never a strong-sweeping pinion may soar,Where the tame fishing-boats ride!Far and beyond in blue deserts of sea,Where the wild winds are at play,There may the spirits of sea-birds be free—'Tis noon, for the gulls are away.
Over the rim of the sunset is blownSea-dusk of purple and gold,Speed now the wanderers back to their own,Wings the most tireless must fold.Homeward together at twilight they flock,Sated with joys of the deep,Drowsily huddled on headland and rock—'Tis night, for the gulls are asleep.
Words in this poem
- fleeced a.
- Furnished with a fleece; as, a sheep is well fleeced.
- bevy n.
- A company; an assembly or collection of persons, especially of ladies. [Perhaps orig. a drinking company, fr. OF. bevée (cf. It. beva) a drink, beverage; then, perh., a company in general, esp. of ladies; and last applied by sportsm]
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- slumberous a.
- Inviting slumber; soporiferous.
- pinion n.
- A moth of the genus Lithophane, as L. antennata, whose larva bores large holes in young peaches and apples.
- homeward a.
- Being in the direction of home; as, the homeward way.
- drowsily adv.
- In a drowsy manner.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Gulls 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, The Gulls, in The Watchman and Other Poems (1916), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/montgomery-watchman/the-gulls.html, id L29370.
Form and metre
The Gulls is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCDCD. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABABCDCD eastA · seaB · fleecedA · feeB · wingsC · breakD · thingsC · awakeD
- 2 ABABCDCD shoreA · tideB · soarA · rideB · seaC · playD · freeC · awayD
- 3 ABABCDCD blownA · goldB · ownA · foldB · flockC · deepD · rockC · asleepD
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Soft is the sky in the mist-kirtled east, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Light is abroad on the sea, | 7 | ··˘/··· |
| All of the heaven with silver is fleeced, | 9 | ···/·/˘·· |
| Holding the sunrise in fee. | 7 | /˘·/··· |
| Lo! with a flash and uplifting of wings | 10 | ·····/·˘·· |
| Down where the long ripples break, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Cometh a bevy of glad-hearted things, | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| 'Tis morn, for the gulls are awake. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Slumberous calm on the ocean and shore | 9 | /˘˘···/·· |
| Comes with the turn of the tide; | 7 | ······· |
| Never a strong-sweeping pinion may soar, | 9 | /··/˘/˘·· |
| Where the tame fishing-boats ride! | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Far and beyond in blue deserts of sea, | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| Where the wild winds are at play, | 7 | ······· |
| There may the spirits of sea-birds be free— | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| 'Tis noon, for the gulls are away. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Over the rim of the sunset is blown | 9 | ·····/··· |
| Sea-dusk of purple and gold, | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Speed now the wanderers back to their own, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Wings the most tireless must fold. | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Homeward together at twilight they flock, | 10 | /˘˘/˘·/··· |
| Sated with joys of the deep, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Drowsily huddled on headland and rock— | 10 | /˘˘/˘·/˘·· |
| 'Tis night, for the gulls are asleep. | 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.