While the Fates Sleep
Come, let us to the sunways of the west,Hasten, while crystal dews the rose-cups fill,Let us dream dreams again in our blithe questO'er whispering wold and hill.Castles of air yon wimpling valleys keepWhere milk-white mist steals from the purpling sea,They shall be ours in the moon's wizardry,While the fates, wearied, sleep.
The viewless spirit of the wind will singIn the soft starshine by the reedy mere,The elfin harps of hemlock boughs will ringFitfully far and near;The fields will yield their trove of spice and musk,And balsam from the glens of pine will fall,Till twilight weaves its tangled shadows allIn one dim web of dusk.
Let us put tears and memories away,While the fates sleep time stops for revelry;Let us look, speak, and kiss as if no dayHas been or yet will be;Let us make friends with laughter 'neath the moon,With music on the immemorial shore,Yea, let us dance as lovers danced of yore—The fates will waken soon!
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- wold n.
- A wood; a forest. [OE. wold, wald, AS. weald, wald, a wood, forest; akin to OFries. & OS. wald, D. woud, G. wald, Icel. völlr, a field, and probably to Gr. va a garden, inclosure.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- wizardry n.
- The character or practices o
- viewless a.
- Not perceivable by the eye; invisible; unseen.
- starshine n.
- The light of the stars.
- elfin a.
- Relating to elves.
- immemorial a.
- Extending beyond the reach of memory, record, or tradition; indefinitely ancient; as, existing from time immemorial. [Pref. im- not + memorial: cf. F. immémorial.]
- yore adv.
- In time long past; in old time; long since. [OE. , yare, , AS. geára;akin to geár a year, E. year. Year.]
- waken v. i.
- To wake; to cease to sleep; to be awakened. [OE. waknen, AS. wæcnan; akin to Goth. gawaknan. See Wake, v. i.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
While the Fates Sleep 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, While the Fates Sleep, in The Watchman and Other Poems (1916), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/montgomery-watchman/while-the-fates-sleep.html, id L29447.
Form and metre
While the Fates Sleep is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
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 ABABC--C westA · fillB · questA · hillB · keepC · sea · wizardry · sleepC
- 2 ABABCDDC singA · mereB · ringA · nearB · muskC · fallD · allD · duskC
- 3 A-A-BCCB awayA · revelry · dayA · be · moonB · shoreC · yoreC · soonB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Come, let us to the sunways of the west, | 10 | ·········· |
| Hasten, while crystal dews the rose-cups fill, | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Let us dream dreams again in our blithe quest | 10 | ····˘/·/·· |
| O'er whispering wold and hill. | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| Castles of air yon wimpling valleys keep | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Where milk-white mist steals from the purpling sea, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| They shall be ours in the moon's wizardry, | 11 | ···/˘···/˘˘ |
| While the fates, wearied, sleep. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The viewless spirit of the wind will sing | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| In the soft starshine by the reedy mere, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The elfin harps of hemlock boughs will ring | 10 | ·/˘··/···· |
| Fitfully far and near; | 6 | /˘˘··· |
| The fields will yield their trove of spice and musk, | 10 | ·········· |
| And balsam from the glens of pine will fall, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Till twilight weaves its tangled shadows all | 10 | ·/···/˘/·· |
| In one dim web of dusk. | 6 | ······ |
| Let us put tears and memories away, | 10 | ·····/˘˘˘/ |
| While the fates sleep time stops for revelry; | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Let us look, speak, and kiss as if no day | 10 | ·········· |
| Has been or yet will be; | 6 | ······ |
| Let us make friends with laughter 'neath the moon, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| With music on the immemorial shore, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Yea, let us dance as lovers danced of yore— | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The fates will waken soon! | 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.