The Truce O' Night
Lo, it is dark,Save for the crystal sparkOf a virgin star o'er the purpling lea,Or the fine, keen, silvery grace of a youngMoon that is hungO'er the priest-like firs by the sea;Lo, it is still,Save for the wind of the hill,And the luring, primeval sounds that fillThe moist and scented air—'Tis the truce o' night, away with unrest and care!
Now we may forgetLove's fever and hate's fret,Forget to-morrow and yesterday;And the hopes we buried in musky gloomWill come out of their tomb,Warm and poignant and gay;We may wander wide,With only a wish for a guide,By heath and pool where the Little Folk bide,We may share in fairy mirth,And partake once more in the happy thoughts of earth.
Lo, we may restHere on her cradling breastIn the wonderful time of the truce o' night,And sweet things that happened long ago,Softly and slow,Will creep back to us in delight;And our dreams may beCompact of young melody,Just such as under the Eden Tree,'Mid the seraphim's lullabies,Eve's might have been ere banished from Paradise.
Words in this poem
- unrest n.
- Want of rest or repose; unquietness; sleeplessness; uneasiness; disquietude.
- poignant a.
- Pricking; piercing; sharp; pungent. [F., p. pr. of poindre to sting, fr. L. pungere to prick, sting. See Pungent.]
- folk n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- bide v. i.
- To dwell; to inhabit; to abide; to stay. [OE. biden, AS. bidan; akin to OHG. bitan, Goth. beidan, Icel. bi; perh. orig., to wait with trust, and akin to bid. See Bid, v. t., and cf. Abide.]
- cradling n.
- The act of using a cradle.
- eden n.
- The garden where Adam and Eve first dwelt; hence, a delightful region or residence. [Heb. eden delight, pleasure; also, a place of pleasure, Eden.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Truce O' Night 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 Truce O' Night, in The Watchman and Other Poems (1916), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/montgomery-watchman/the-truce-o-night.html, id L29409.
Form and metre
The Truce O' Night is 33 lines in 3 stanzas of 11 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABCCBDDDEE. 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 AABCCBDDDEE darkA · sparkA · leaB · youngC · hungC · seaB · stillD · hillD · fillD · airE · careE
- 2 AABCCBDDDEE forgetA · fretA · yesterdayB · gloomC · tombC · gayB · wideD · guideD · bideD · mirthE · earthE
- 3 AABCCBDDDEE restA · breastA · nightB · agoC · slowC · delightB · beD · melodyD · treeD · lullabiesE · paradiseE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Lo, it is dark, | 4 | ···· |
| Save for the crystal spark | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Of a virgin star o'er the purpling lea, | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| Or the fine, keen, silvery grace of a young | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| Moon that is hung | 4 | ···· |
| O'er the priest-like firs by the sea; | 8 | ········ |
| Lo, it is still, | 4 | ···· |
| Save for the wind of the hill, | 7 | ······· |
| And the luring, primeval sounds that fill | 10 | ··/˘˘/˘··· |
| The moist and scented air— | 6 | ···/˘· |
| 'Tis the truce o' night, away with unrest and care! | 12 | ·····˘/·˘/·· |
| Now we may forget | 5 | ···˘/ |
| Love's fever and hate's fret, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Forget to-morrow and yesterday; | 9 | ˘/·/˘·/˘˘ |
| And the hopes we buried in musky gloom | 10 | ····/˘·/˘· |
| Will come out of their tomb, | 6 | ······ |
| Warm and poignant and gay; | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| We may wander wide, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| With only a wish for a guide, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| By heath and pool where the Little Folk bide, | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| We may share in fairy mirth, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And partake once more in the happy thoughts of earth. | 12 | ·˘/····/˘··· |
| Lo, we may rest | 4 | ···· |
| Here on her cradling breast | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| In the wonderful time of the truce o' night, | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| And sweet things that happened long ago, | 9 | ····/˘·˘/ |
| Softly and slow, | 4 | /˘·· |
| Will creep back to us in delight; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And our dreams may be | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Compact of young melody, | 7 | /˘··/˘˘ |
| Just such as under the Eden Tree, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| 'Mid the seraphim's lullabies, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Eve's might have been ere banished from Paradise. | 11 | ·····/˘·/˘· |
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.