The Dead Village
Here there is death. But even here, they say, --Here where the dull sun shines this afternoonAs desolate as ever the dead moonDid glimmer on dead Sardis, -- men were gay;And there were little children here to play,With small soft hands that once did keep in tuneThe strings that stretch from heaven, till too soonThe change came, and the music passed away.
Now there is nothing but the ghosts of things, --No life, no love, no children, and no men;And over the forgotten place there clingsThe strange and unrememberable lightThat is in dreams. The music failed, and thenGod frowned, and shut the village from His sight.
Words in this poem
- afternoon n.
- The part of the day which follows noon, between noon and evening.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Dead Village 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 Dead Village, in The Children of the Night (1897), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #313, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/robinson-children-of-night/the-dead-village.html, id L08002.
Form and metre
The Dead Village is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 50% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABBAABBA sayA · afternoonB · moonB · gayA · playA · tuneB · soonB · awayA
- 2 ABACBC thingsA · menB · clingsA · lightC · thenB · sightC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Here there is death. But even here, they say, -- | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Here where the dull sun shines this afternoon | 10 | ········˘/ |
| As desolate as ever the dead moon | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Did glimmer on dead Sardis, -- men were gay; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And there were little children here to play, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| With small soft hands that once did keep in tune | 10 | ·········· |
| The strings that stretch from heaven, till too soon | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The change came, and the music passed away. | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Now there is nothing but the ghosts of things, -- | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| No life, no love, no children, and no men; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And over the forgotten place there clings | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| The strange and unrememberable light | 10 | ·········· |
| That is in dreams. The music failed, and then | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| God frowned, and shut the village from His sight. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
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.