Midnight
ALL dark!--no light, no ray!Sun, moon, and stars, all gone!Dimness of anguish!--utter void!--Crushed, and alone!
One waste of weary pain,One dull, unmeaning ache,A heart too weary even to throb,Too bruised to break.
No longer anxious thoughts,No longer hopes and fears,No strife, no effort, no desire,No tears.
Daylight and leaves and flowers,Summer and song of bird!--All vanished!--dreams forever gone,Unseen, unheard!
Love, beauty, youth,--all gone!The high, heroic vow,The buoyant hope, the fond desire,--All ashes now!
The words they speak to meFar off and distant seem,As voices we have known and lovedSpeak in a dream.
They bid me to submit;I do,--I cannot strive;I do not question,--I endure,Endure and live.
I do not struggle more,Nor pray, for prayer is vain;I but lie still the weary hour,And bear my pain.
A guiding God, a Friend,A Father's gracious cheer,Once seemed my own; but now even faithLies buried here.
This darkened, deathly lifeIs all remains of me,And but one conscious wish,--To cease to be!
Words in this poem
- ache n.
- A name given to several species of plants; as, smallage, wild celery, parsley. Holland. [F. ache, L. apium parsley.]
- throb v. i.
- To beat, or pulsate, with more than usual force or rapidity; to beat in consequence of agitation; to palpitate; -- said of the heart, pulse, etc. [OE. ; of uncertain origin; cf. Russ. trepete a trembling, and E. trepidation.]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- 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.
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- unheard a.
- Not heard; not perceived by the ear; as, words unheard by those present.
- deathly a.
- Deadly; fatal; mortal; destructive.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Midnight is in the public domain. This text is taken from Religious Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #44778; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Harriet Beecher Stowe, Midnight, in Religious Poems (1867), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #44778, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/stowe-religious-poems/midnight.html, id L22722.
Form and metre
Midnight is 40 lines in 10 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is short measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in short measure.
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.
- 2 -A-A pain · acheA · throb · breakA
- 3 -A-A thoughts · fearsA · desire · tearsA
- 4 -A-A flowers · birdA · gone · unheardA
- 5 -A-A gone · vowA · desire · nowA
- 6 -A-A me · seemA · loved · dreamA
- 7 -A-A submit · striveA · endure · liveA
- 8 -A-A more · vainA · hour · painA
- 9 -A-A friend · cheerA · faith · hereA
- 10 -A-A life · meA · wish · beA
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 short measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| ALL dark!--no light, no ray! | 6 | ······ |
| Sun, moon, and stars, all gone! | 6 | ······ |
| Dimness of anguish!--utter void!-- | 8 | /˘·/˘/˘· |
| Crushed, and alone! | 4 | ··˘/ |
| One waste of weary pain, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| One dull, unmeaning ache, | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| A heart too weary even to throb, | 9 | ···/˘/˘·· |
| Too bruised to break. | 4 | ···· |
| No longer anxious thoughts, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| No longer hopes and fears, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| No strife, no effort, no desire, | 9 | ···/˘·˘/˘ |
| No tears. | 2 | ·· |
| Daylight and leaves and flowers, | 7 | /····/˘ |
| Summer and song of bird!-- | 6 | /˘···· |
| All vanished!--dreams forever gone, | 9 | ·/˘˘·˘/˘· |
| Unseen, unheard! | 4 | ˘/˘/ |
| Love, beauty, youth,--all gone! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The high, heroic vow, | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| The buoyant hope, the fond desire,-- | 9 | ·/˘···˘/˘ |
| All ashes now! | 4 | ·/˘· |
| The words they speak to me | 6 | ······ |
| Far off and distant seem, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| As voices we have known and loved | 9 | ·/˘·····˘ |
| Speak in a dream. | 4 | ···· |
| They bid me to submit; | 6 | ····˘/ |
| I do,--I cannot strive; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I do not question,--I endure, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Endure and live. | 4 | ˘/·· |
| I do not struggle more, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Nor pray, for prayer is vain; | 6 | ······ |
| I but lie still the weary hour, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| And bear my pain. | 4 | ···· |
| A guiding God, a Friend, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| A Father's gracious cheer, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Once seemed my own; but now even faith | 10 | ··˘····/˘· |
| Lies buried here. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| This darkened, deathly life | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Is all remains of me, | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| And but one conscious wish,-- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| To cease to be! | 4 | ···· |
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.