Crepuscular
No creature stirs in the wide fields.The rifted western heaven yieldsThe dying sun's illumination.This is the hour of tribulationWhen, with clear sight of eve engendered,Day's homage to delusion rendered,Mute at her window sits the soul.
Clouds and skies and lakes and seas,Valleys and hills and grass and trees,Sun, moon, and stars, all stand to herLimbs of one lordless challenger,Who, without deigning taunt or frown.Throws a perennial gauntlet down:"Come conquer me and take thy toll."
No cowardice or fear she knows,But, as once more she girds, there growsAn unresigned hopelessnessFrom memory of former stress.Head bent, she muses whilst he waits:How with such weapons dint his plates?How quell this vast and sleepless giantCalmly, immortally defiant,How fell him, bind him, and controlWith a silver cord and a golden bowl?
Words in this poem
- tribulation n.
- That which occasions distress, trouble, or vexation; severe affliction. [OE. tribulacium, F. tribulation, L. tribulatio, from tribulare to press, afflict, fr. tribulum a thrashing sledge, akin to terere, tritum, to rub. See Trite.]
- challenger n.
- One who challenges.
- gauntlet n.
- A glove of such material that it defends the hand from wounds. [F. gantelet, dim. of gant glove, LL. wantus, of Teutonic origin; cf. D. want, Sw. & Dan. vante, Icel. vöttr, for vantr.]
- dint n.
- A blow; a stroke. [OE. dint, dent, dunt, a blow, AS. dynt; akin to Icel. dyntr a dint, dynta to dint, and perh. to L. fendere (in composition). Cf. 1st Dent, Defend.]
- quell v. t.
- To take the life of; to kill. [OE. quellen to kill, AS. cwellan, causative of cwelan to die; akin to OHG. quellen to torment, Icel. kvelja. See Quail to cower.]
- sleepless a.
- Having no sleep; wakeful.
- immortally adv.
- In an immortal manner.
- defiant a.
- Full of defiance; bold; insolent; as, a defiant spirit or act. [Cf. F. défiant, p. pr. of défier. See Defy.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Crepuscular is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems - First Series, Project Gutenberg ebook #37860; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Collings Squire, Crepuscular, in Poems: First Series (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #37860, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/squire-poems/crepuscular.html, id L23168.
Form and metre
Crepuscular is 24 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 83% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 AABBCC- fieldsA · yieldsA · illuminationB · tribulationB · engenderedC · renderedC · soul
- 2 AA--BB- seasA · treesA · her · challenger · frownB · downB · toll
- 3 AABBCCDDEE knowsA · growsA · hopelessnessB · stressB · waitsC · platesC · giantD · defiantD · controlE · bowlE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| No creature stirs in the wide fields. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The rifted western heaven yields | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| The dying sun's illumination. | 9 | ·/˘·˘·˘/˘ |
| This is the hour of tribulation | 9 | ···/··˘/˘ |
| When, with clear sight of eve engendered, | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| Day's homage to delusion rendered, | 9 | ·/˘·˘/˘/˘ |
| Mute at her window sits the soul. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Clouds and skies and lakes and seas, | 7 | ······· |
| Valleys and hills and grass and trees, | 8 | /˘······ |
| Sun, moon, and stars, all stand to her | 8 | ········ |
| Limbs of one lordless challenger, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Who, without deigning taunt or frown. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Throws a perennial gauntlet down: | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| "Come conquer me and take thy toll." | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| No cowardice or fear she knows, | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| But, as once more she girds, there grows | 8 | ········ |
| An unresigned hopelessness | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| From memory of former stress. | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| Head bent, she muses whilst he waits: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| How with such weapons dint his plates? | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| How quell this vast and sleepless giant | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Calmly, immortally defiant, | 9 | /˘˘/˘˘˘/˘ |
| How fell him, bind him, and control | 8 | ······˘/ |
| With a silver cord and a golden bowl? | 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.