'Before the Paling of the Stars'
Before the paling of the stars,Before the winter morn,Before the earliest cockcrowJesus Christ was born:Born in a stable,Cradled in a manger,In the world His hands had madeBorn a stranger.
Priest and king lay fast asleepIn Jerusalem,Young and old lay fast asleepIn crowded Bethlehem:Saint and Angel, ox and ass,Kept a watch together,Before the Christmas daybreakIn the winter weather.
Jesus on His Mother's breastIn the stable cold,Spotless Lamb of God was He,Shepherd of the fold:Let us kneel with Mary maid,With Joseph bent and hoary,With Saint and Angel, ox and ass,To hail the King of Glory.
Words in this poem
- paling n.
- Pales, in general; a fence formed with pales or pickets; a limit; an inclosure.
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- cockcrow n.
- The time at which cooks first crow; the early morning.
- manger n.
- A trough or open box in which fodder is placed for horses or cattle to eat. [F. mangeoire, fr. manger to eat, fr. L. manducare, fr. mandere to chew. Cf. Mandible, Manducate.]
- bethlehem n.
- A hospital for lunatics; -- corrupted into bedlam. [Heb. b house of food; b house + lekhem food, lakham to eat. Formerly the name of a hospital for the insane, in London, which had been the priory of St. Mary of ]
- daybreak n.
- The time of the first appearance of light in the morning.
- kneel v. i.
- To bend the knee; to fall or rest on the knees; -- sometimes with down. [OE. knelen, cneolien; akin to D. knielen, Dan. knæle. See Knee.]
- hoary a.
- White or whitish."The hoary willows."
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
'Before the Paling of the Stars' is in the public domain. This text is taken from Goblin Market, The Prince's Progress, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #16950; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Christina Rossetti, 'Before the Paling of the Stars', in Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-goblin-market/before-the-paling-of-the-stars.html, id L04362.
Form and metre
'Before the Paling of the Stars' is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.4 syllables. 8 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 trochaic 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 -A-A-B-B stars · mornA · cockcrow · bornA · stable · mangerB · made · strangerB
- 2 ABAB-C-C asleepA · jerusalemB · asleepA · bethlehemB · ass · togetherC · daybreak · weatherC
- 3 -A-A-B-B breast · coldA · he · foldA · maid · hoaryB · ass · gloryB
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Before the paling of the stars, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Before the winter morn, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Before the earliest cockcrow | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Jesus Christ was born: | 5 | /˘··· |
| Born in a stable, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Cradled in a manger, | 7 | /˘˘··/˘ |
| In the world His hands had made | 7 | ······· |
| Born a stranger. | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Priest and king lay fast asleep | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| In Jerusalem, | 5 | ·˘/˘˘ |
| Young and old lay fast asleep | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| In crowded Bethlehem: | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Saint and Angel, ox and ass, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Kept a watch together, | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| Before the Christmas daybreak | 7 | ···/˘/· |
| In the winter weather. | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Jesus on His Mother's breast | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| In the stable cold, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Spotless Lamb of God was He, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Shepherd of the fold: | 5 | /˘··· |
| Let us kneel with Mary maid, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| With Joseph bent and hoary, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| With Saint and Angel, ox and ass, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To hail the King of Glory. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
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.