Twilight Night II
Where my heart is (wherever that may be)Might I but follow!If you fly thither over heath and lea,O honey-seeking bee,O careless swallow,Bid some for whom I watch keep watch for me.
Alas! that we must dwell, my heart and I,So far asunder.Hours wax to days, and days and days creep by;I watch with wistful eye,I wait and wonder:When will that day draw nigh--that hour draw nigh?
Not yesterday, and not, I think, to-day;Perhaps to-morrow.Day after day 'to-morrow' thus I say:I watched so yesterdayIn hope and sorrow,Again to-day I watch the accustomed way.
Words in this poem
- wherever adv.
- At or in whatever place; wheresoever.
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- wistful a.
- Longing; wishful; desirous. [For wishful; perhaps influenced by wistly, which is probably corrupted from OE. wisly certainly (from Icel. viss certain, akin to E. wit). See Wish.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Twilight Night II 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, Twilight Night II, in Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-goblin-market/twilight-night-ii.html, id L04370.
Form and metre
Twilight Night II is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAABA. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.7 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 6% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABAABA beA · followB · leaA · beeA · swallowB · meA
- 2 ABAABA iA · asunderB · byA · eyeA · wonderB · nighA
- 3 ABAABA dayA · morrowB · sayA · yesterdayA · sorrowB · wayA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Where my heart is (wherever that may be) | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Might I but follow! | 5 | ···/˘ |
| If you fly thither over heath and lea, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| O honey-seeking bee, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| O careless swallow, | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Bid some for whom I watch keep watch for me. | 10 | ·········· |
| Alas! that we must dwell, my heart and I, | 10 | ˘/········ |
| So far asunder. | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| Hours wax to days, and days and days creep by; | 10 | /········· |
| I watch with wistful eye, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I wait and wonder: | 5 | ···/˘ |
| When will that day draw nigh--that hour draw nigh? | 10 | ·······/·· |
| Not yesterday, and not, I think, to-day; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Perhaps to-morrow. | 5 | ˘/·/˘ |
| Day after day 'to-morrow' thus I say: | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| I watched so yesterday | 6 | ···/˘· |
| In hope and sorrow, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Again to-day I watch the accustomed way. | 11 | ˘/·····˘/˘· |
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.