On a Railway Platform
A drizzle of drifting rainAnd a blurred white lamp o'erhead,That shines as my love will shine againIn the world of the dead.
Round me the wet black night,And, afar in the limitless gloom,Crimson and green, two blossoms of light,Two stars of doom.
But the night of death is aflareWith a torch of back-blown fire,And the coal-black deeps of the quivering airRend for my soul's desire.
Leap, heart, for the pulse and the roarAnd the lights of the streaming trainThat leaps with the heart of thy love once moreOut of the mist and the rain.
Out of the desolate yearsThe thundering pageant flows;But I see no more than a window of tearsWhich her face has turned to a rose.
Words in this poem
- drizzle v. i.
- To rain slightly in very small drops; to fall, as water from the clouds, slowly and in fine particles; as, it drizzles; drizzling drops or rain. [Prop. freq. of AS. dreósan to fall. See Dreary.]
- 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.]
- limitless a.
- Having no limits; unbounded; boundless. Davies (Wit's Pilgr.).
- streaming a.
- Sending forth streams.
- thundering a.
- Emitting thunder.
- pageant n.
- A theatrical exhibition; a spectacle. [OE. pagent, pagen, originally, a movable scaffold or stage, hence, what was exhibited on it, fr. LL. pagina, akin to pangere to fasten; cf. L. pagina page, leaf]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On a Railway Platform is in the public domain. This text is taken from Collected Poems: Volume One, Project Gutenberg ebook #30501; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Alfred Noyes, On a Railway Platform, in Collected Poems, Volume One (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #30501, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/noyes-collected/on-a-railway-platform.html, id L21486.
Form and metre
On a Railway Platform is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic trimeter.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 ABAB rainA · o'erheadB · againA · deadB
- 2 ABAB nightA · gloomB · lightA · doomB
- 3 ABAB aflareA · fireB · airA · desireB
- 4 ABAB roarA · trainB · moreA · rainB
- 5 ABAB yearsA · flowsB · tearsA · roseB
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| A drizzle of drifting rain | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| And a blurred white lamp o'erhead, | 7 | ······· |
| That shines as my love will shine again | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| In the world of the dead. | 6 | ······ |
| Round me the wet black night, | 6 | ······ |
| And, afar in the limitless gloom, | 9 | ·˘/··/˘˘· |
| Crimson and green, two blossoms of light, | 9 | /˘···/˘·· |
| Two stars of doom. | 4 | ···· |
| But the night of death is aflare | 8 | ········ |
| With a torch of back-blown fire, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And the coal-black deeps of the quivering air | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Rend for my soul's desire. | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Leap, heart, for the pulse and the roar | 8 | ········ |
| And the lights of the streaming train | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That leaps with the heart of thy love once more | 10 | ·········· |
| Out of the mist and the rain. | 7 | ······· |
| Out of the desolate years | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| The thundering pageant flows; | 7 | ·/˘˘/˘· |
| But I see no more than a window of tears | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| Which her face has turned to a rose. | 9 | ·····˘··· |
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.