Refuge
Twilight, a timid fawn, went glimmering by,And Night, the dark-blue hunter, followed fast,Ceaseless pursuit and flight were in the sky,But the long chase had ceased for us at last.
We watched together while the driven fawnHid in the golden thicket of the day.We, from whose hearts pursuit and flight were gone,Knew on the hunter's breast her refuge lay.
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- ceaseless a.
- Without pause or end; incessant.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Refuge is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Divine Vision, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #36913; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: George William Russell, Refuge, in The Divine Vision and Other Poems (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36913, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/russell-divine-vision/refuge.html, id L11541.
Form and metre
Refuge is 8 lines in 2 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 12% 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 ABAB byA · fastB · skyA · lastB
- 2 ABAB fawnA · dayB · goneA · layB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Twilight, a timid fawn, went glimmering by, | 10 | /··/˘··/˘· |
| And Night, the dark-blue hunter, followed fast, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Ceaseless pursuit and flight were in the sky, | 10 | /˘˘/······ |
| But the long chase had ceased for us at last. | 10 | ·········· |
| We watched together while the driven fawn | 9 | ··˘/˘··/· |
| Hid in the golden thicket of the day. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| We, from whose hearts pursuit and flight were gone, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Knew on the hunter's breast her refuge lay. | 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.