Twilight
From vales of dawn hath Day pursued the NightWho mocking fled, swift-sandalled, to the west,Nor ever lingered in her wayward flightWith dusk-eyed glance to recompense his quest,But over crocus hills and meadows graySped fleetly on her way.
Now when the Day, shorn of his failing strength,Hath fallen spent before the sunset bars,The fair, wild Night, with pity touched at length,Crowned with her chaplet of out-blossoming stars,Creeps back repentantly upon her wayTo kiss the dying Day.
Words in this poem
- wayward a.
- Taking one's own way; disobedient; froward; perverse; willful. [OE. weiward, for aweiward, i. e., turned away. See Away, and -ward.]
- fleetly adv.
- In a fleet manner; rapidly.
- chaplet n.
- A garland or wreath to be worn on the head. [F. chapelet, dim. of OF. chapel hat, garland, dim. fr. LL. cappa. See Cap, and cf. Chapelet, Chapeau.]
- repentantly adv.
- In a repentant manner.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Twilight 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, Twilight, in The Watchman and Other Poems (1916), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/montgomery-watchman/twilight.html, id L29404.
Form and metre
Twilight is 12 lines in 2 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCC. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 ABABCC nightA · westB · flightA · questB · grayC · wayC
- 2 ABABCC strengthA · barsB · lengthA · starsB · wayC · dayC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| From vales of dawn hath Day pursued the Night | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Who mocking fled, swift-sandalled, to the west, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Nor ever lingered in her wayward flight | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| With dusk-eyed glance to recompense his quest, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| But over crocus hills and meadows gray | 10 | ···/˘··/·· |
| Sped fleetly on her way. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Now when the Day, shorn of his failing strength, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Hath fallen spent before the sunset bars, | 10 | ·/˘····/·· |
| The fair, wild Night, with pity touched at length, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Crowned with her chaplet of out-blossoming stars, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Creeps back repentantly upon her way | 10 | ··˘/˘˘···· |
| To kiss the dying Day. | 6 | ···/˘· |
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.