The Nightingale and the Glow-Worm
A nightingale, that all day longHad cheered the village with his song,Nor yet at eve his note suspended,Nor yet when eventide was ended,Began to feel, as well he might,The keen demands of appetite;When, looking eagerly around,He spied far off, upon the ground,A something shining in the dark,And knew the glow-worm by his spark;So, stooping down from hawthorn top,He thought to put him in his crop.The worm, aware of his intent,Harangued him thus, right eloquent:“Did you admire my lamp,” quoth he,“As much as I your minstrelsy,You would abhor to do me wrong,As much as I to spoil your song;For ’twas the self-same power divine,Taught you to sing and me to shine;That you with music, I with light,Might beautify and cheer the night.”The songster heard his short oration,And warbling out his approbation,Released him, as my story tells,And found a supper somewhere else.
Words in this poem
- eventide n.
- The time of evening; evening. [AS. æfentid. See Tide.]
- admire v. t.
- To regard with wonder or astonishment; to view with surprise; to marvel at. [F. admirer, fr. L. admirari; ad + mirari to wonder, for smirari, akin to Gr. smi, and E. smile.]
- quoth v. t.
- Said; spoke; uttered; -- used only in the first and third persons in the past tenses, and always followed by its nominative, the word or words said being the object; as, quoth I. quoth he. [AS.cweedhan, imp cwæedh, pl. cwædon; akin to OS. queedhan, OHG. quethan, quedan, Icel. kveedha, Goth. qiþan. sq. root22. Cf. Bequeath.]
- minstrelsy n.
- The arts and occupation of minstrels; the singing and playing of a minstrel.
- abhor v. i.
- To shrink back with horror, disgust, or dislike; to be contrary or averse; -- with from.
- songster n.
- One who sings; one skilled in singing; -- not often applied to human beings. [AS. sangestre a female singer.]
- approbation n.
- Proof; attestation. [L. approbatio: cf. F. approbation. See Approve to prove.]
- somewhere adv.
- In some place unknown or not specified; in one place or another.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Nightingale and the Glow-Worm is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems Every Child Should Know The What-Every-Child-Should-Know-Library, Project Gutenberg ebook #16436; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Mary E. Burt, The Nightingale and the Glow-Worm, in Poems Every Child Should Know (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16436, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poems-every-child/the-nightingale-and-the-glow-worm.html, id L25183.
Form and metre
The Nightingale and the Glow-Worm is 26 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKLLMM longA · songA · suspendedB · endedB · mightC · appetiteC · aroundD · groundD · darkE · sparkE · topF · cropF · intentG · eloquentG · heH · minstrelsyH · wrongI · songI · divineJ · shineJ · lightK · nightK · orationL · approbationL · tellsM · elseM
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| A nightingale, that all day long | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Had cheered the village with his song, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Nor yet at eve his note suspended, | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| Nor yet when eventide was ended, | 9 | ···/˘˘·/˘ |
| Began to feel, as well he might, | 8 | ˘/······ |
| The keen demands of appetite; | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| When, looking eagerly around, | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘·· |
| He spied far off, upon the ground, | 8 | ········ |
| A something shining in the dark, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And knew the glow-worm by his spark; | 8 | ········ |
| So, stooping down from hawthorn top, | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| He thought to put him in his crop. | 8 | ········ |
| The worm, aware of his intent, | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| Harangued him thus, right eloquent: | 8 | ˘/···/˘˘ |
| “Did you admire my lamp,” quoth he, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| “As much as I your minstrelsy, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| You would abhor to do me wrong, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| As much as I to spoil your song; | 8 | ········ |
| For ’twas the self-same power divine, | 8 | ·····/˘/ |
| Taught you to sing and me to shine; | 8 | ········ |
| That you with music, I with light, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Might beautify and cheer the night.” | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The songster heard his short oration, | 9 | ·/˘···˘/˘ |
| And warbling out his approbation, | 9 | ·/˘···˘/˘ |
| Released him, as my story tells, | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| And found a supper somewhere else. | 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.