The Children of the Night
For those that never know the light,The darkness is a sullen thing;And they, the Children of the Night,Seem lost in Fortune's winnowing.
But some are strong and some are weak, --And there's the story. House and homeAre shut from countless hearts that seekWorld-refuge that will never come.
And if there be no other life,And if there be no other chanceTo weigh their sorrow and their strifeThan in the scales of circumstance,
'T were better, ere the sun go downUpon the first day we embark,In life's imbittered sea to drown,Than sail forever in the dark.
But if there be a soul on earthSo blinded with its own misuseOf man's revealed, incessant worth,Or worn with anguish, that it views
No light but for a mortal eye,No rest but of a mortal sleep,No God but in a prophet's lie,No faith for "honest doubt" to keep;
If there be nothing, good or bad,But chaos for a soul to trust, --God counts it for a soul gone mad,And if God be God, He is just.
And if God be God, He is Love;And though the Dawn be still so dim,It shows us we have played enoughWith creeds that make a fiend of Him.
There is one creed, and only one,That glorifies God's excellence;So cherish, that His will be done,The common creed of common sense.
It is the crimson, not the gray,That charms the twilight of all time;It is the promise of the dayThat makes the starry sky sublime;
It is the faith within the fearThat holds us to the life we curse; --So let us in ourselves revereThe Self which is the Universe!
Let us, the Children of the Night,Put off the cloak that hides the scar!Let us be Children of the Light,And tell the ages what we are!
Words in this poem
- sullen a.
- Lonely; solitary; desolate. Wyclif (Job iii. 14). [OE. solein, solain, lonely, sullen; through Old French fr. (assumed) LL. solanus solitary, fr. L. solus alone. See Sole, a.]
- winnowing n.
- The act of one who, or that which, winnows.
- countless a.
- Incapable of being counted; not ascertainable; innumerable.
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- chaos n.
- An empty, immeasurable space; a yawning chasm. [L. chaos chaos (in senses 1 & 2), Gr. Chasm.]
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- revere v. t.
- To regard with reverence, or profound respect and affection, mingled with awe or fear; to venerate; to reverence; to honor in estimation. [L. revereri; pref. re- re- + vereri to fear, perh. akin to E. wary: cf. F. révérer.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Children of the Night is in the public domain. This text is taken from Children of the Night, Project Gutenberg ebook #313; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edwin Arlington Robinson, The Children of the Night, (1897), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #313, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/robinson-children-of-night/the-children-of-the-night.html, id L07970.
Form and metre
The Children of the Night is 48 lines in 12 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 11 of its 12 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See 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 ABAB lightA · thingB · nightA · winnowingB
- 2 ABAB weakA · homeB · seekA · comeB
- 3 ABAB lifeA · chanceB · strifeA · circumstanceB
- 4 ABAB downA · embarkB · drownA · darkB
- 5 ABAB earthA · misuseB · worthA · viewsB
- 6 ABAB eyeA · sleepB · lieA · keepB
- 7 ABAB badA · trustB · madA · justB
- 8 -A-A love · dimA · enough · himA
- 9 ABAB oneA · excellenceB · doneA · senseB
- 10 ABAB grayA · timeB · dayA · sublimeB
- 11 ABAB fearA · curseB · revereA · universeB
- 12 ABAB nightA · scarB · lightA · areB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| For those that never know the light, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The darkness is a sullen thing; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And they, the Children of the Night, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Seem lost in Fortune's winnowing. | 8 | ···/˘/·˘ |
| But some are strong and some are weak, -- | 8 | ········ |
| And there's the story. House and home | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Are shut from countless hearts that seek | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| World-refuge that will never come. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And if there be no other life, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And if there be no other chance | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To weigh their sorrow and their strife | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Than in the scales of circumstance, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| 'T were better, ere the sun go down | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| Upon the first day we embark, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| In life's imbittered sea to drown, | 9 | ·····˘··· |
| Than sail forever in the dark. | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| But if there be a soul on earth | 8 | ········ |
| So blinded with its own misuse | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Of man's revealed, incessant worth, | 9 | ··˘/˘˘/˘· |
| Or worn with anguish, that it views | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| No light but for a mortal eye, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| No rest but of a mortal sleep, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| No God but in a prophet's lie, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| No faith for "honest doubt" to keep; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| If there be nothing, good or bad, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| But chaos for a soul to trust, -- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| God counts it for a soul gone mad, | 8 | ········ |
| And if God be God, He is just. | 8 | ········ |
| And if God be God, He is Love; | 8 | ········ |
| And though the Dawn be still so dim, | 8 | ········ |
| It shows us we have played enough | 9 | ······˘˘/ |
| With creeds that make a fiend of Him. | 8 | ········ |
| There is one creed, and only one, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That glorifies God's excellence; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| So cherish, that His will be done, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The common creed of common sense. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| It is the crimson, not the gray, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That charms the twilight of all time; | 8 | ···/···· |
| It is the promise of the day | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That makes the starry sky sublime; | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| It is the faith within the fear | 8 | ········ |
| That holds us to the life we curse; -- | 8 | ········ |
| So let us in ourselves revere | 9 | ····˘˘/˘/ |
| The Self which is the Universe! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Let us, the Children of the Night, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Put off the cloak that hides the scar! | 8 | ········ |
| Let us be Children of the Light, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And tell the ages what we are! | 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.