To Night
Swiftly walk o'er the western wave,Spirit of Night!Out of the misty eastern cave,Where, all the long and lone daylight,Thou wovest dreams of joy and fear,'Which make thee terrible and dear,--Swift be thy flight!
Wrap thy form in a mantle gray,Star-inwrought!Blind with thine hair the eyes of Day;Kiss her until she be wearied out,Then wander o'er city, and sea, and land,Touching all with thine opiate wand--Come, long-sought!
When I arose and saw the dawn,I sighed for thee;When light rode high, and the dew was gone,And noon lay heavy on flower and tree,And the weary Day turned to his rest,Lingering like an unloved guest, I sighed for thee.
Thy brother Death came, and cried,Wouldst thou me?Thy sweet child Sleep, the filmy-eyed,Murmured like a noontide bee,Shall I nestle near thy side?Wouldst thou me?--And I replied,No, not thee!
Death will come when thou art dead,Soon, too soon--Sleep will come when thou art fled;Of neither would I ask the boonI ask of thee, beloved Night--Swift be thine approaching flight,Come soon, soon!
Words in this poem
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- daylight n.
- The light of day as opposed to the darkness of night; the light of the sun, as opposed to that of the moon or to artificial light.
- inwrought p. p.
- Wrought or worked in or among other things; worked into any fabric so as to from a part of its texture; wrought or adorned, as with figures. [Pref. in- + wrought. Cf. Inwork.]
- opiate n.
- Originally, a medicine of a thicker consistence than sirup, prepared with opium. Parr. [From Opium: cf.F. opiat.]
- rode n.
- Redness; complexion. [See Rud.]
- noontide n.
- The time of noon; midday. [From noon + tide time; cf. AS. n the ninth hour.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- nestle v. i.
- To make and occupy a nest; to nest. [AS. nestlian.]
- boon n.
- A prayer or petition. [OE. bone, boin, a petition, fr. Icel. b; akin to Sw. & Dan. b, AS. b, and perh. to E. ban; but influenced by F. bon good, fr. L. bonus. Ban, Bounty.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Night is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley — Volume 2, Project Gutenberg ebook #4798; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Percy Bysshe Shelley, To Night, in Ode to the West Wind, and Other Poems (1816–1819), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4798, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shelley-later-poems/to-night.html, id L16436.
Form and metre
To Night is 34 lines in 5 stanzas. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABABCCB, in 2 of the 5 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.9 syllables.
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 ABABCCB waveA · nightB · caveA · daylightB · fearC · dearC · flightB
- 2 ABA---B grayA · inwroughtB · dayA · out · land · wand · soughtB
- 3 ABAB-B dawnA · theeB · goneA · treeB · rest · theeB
- 4 ABABAAB criedA · meB · eyedA · beeB · sideA · repliedA · theeB
- 5 ABABCCB deadA · soonB · fledA · boonB · nightC · flightC · soonB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Swiftly walk o'er the western wave, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Spirit of Night! | 4 | /˘·· |
| Out of the misty eastern cave, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Where, all the long and lone daylight, | 8 | ······/· |
| Thou wovest dreams of joy and fear, | 8 | ········ |
| 'Which make thee terrible and dear,-- | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Swift be thy flight! | 4 | ···· |
| Wrap thy form in a mantle gray, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Star-inwrought! | 3 | ·˘/ |
| Blind with thine hair the eyes of Day; | 8 | ········ |
| Kiss her until she be wearied out, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Then wander o'er city, and sea, and land, | 10 | ·/˘·/˘···· |
| Touching all with thine opiate wand-- | 9 | /˘···/˘˘· |
| Come, long-sought! | 3 | ··· |
| When I arose and saw the dawn, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| I sighed for thee; | 4 | ···· |
| When light rode high, and the dew was gone, | 9 | ········· |
| And noon lay heavy on flower and tree, | 10 | ···/˘·/˘·· |
| And the weary Day turned to his rest, | 10 | ··/˘··˘··· |
| Lingering like an unloved guest, I sighed for thee. | 11 | /˘··˘/····· |
| Thy brother Death came, and cried, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Wouldst thou me? | 3 | ··· |
| Thy sweet child Sleep, the filmy-eyed, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Murmured like a noontide bee, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Shall I nestle near thy side? | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Wouldst thou me?--And I replied, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| No, not thee! | 3 | ··· |
| Death will come when thou art dead, | 7 | ······· |
| Soon, too soon-- | 3 | ··· |
| Sleep will come when thou art fled; | 7 | ······· |
| Of neither would I ask the boon | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| I ask of thee, beloved Night-- | 7 | ····˘/· |
| Swift be thine approaching flight, | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| Come soon, soon! | 3 | ··· |
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.