Day and Night
In Warsaw in PolandHalf the world away,The one I love best of allThought of me to-day;
I know, for I wentWinged as a bird,In the wide flowing windHis own voice I heard;
His arms were round meIn a ferny place,I looked in the poolAnd there was his face--
But now it is nightAnd the cold stars say:"Warsaw in PolandIs half the world away."
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- ferny a.
- Abounding in ferns.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Day and Night is in the public domain. This text is taken from Flame and Shadow, Project Gutenberg ebook #591; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Sara Teasdale, Day and Night, in Flame and Shadow (1920), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #591, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/teasdale-flame-shadow/day-and-night.html, id L16968.
Form and metre
Day and Night is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is short measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.2 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 50% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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.
- 1 -A-A poland · awayA · all · dayA
- 2 -A-A went · birdA · wind · heardA
- 3 -A-A me · placeA · pool · faceA
- 4 -A-A night · sayA · poland · awayA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| In Warsaw in Poland | 6 | ·/··/˘ |
| Half the world away, | 5 | ···˘/ |
| The one I love best of all | 7 | ······· |
| Thought of me to-day; | 5 | ····· |
| I know, for I went | 5 | ····· |
| Winged as a bird, | 5 | ·˘··· |
| In the wide flowing wind | 5 | ···/· |
| His own voice I heard; | 5 | ····· |
| His arms were round me | 5 | ····· |
| In a ferny place, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| I looked in the pool | 5 | ····· |
| And there was his face-- | 5 | ····· |
| But now it is night | 5 | ····· |
| And the cold stars say: | 5 | ····· |
| "Warsaw in Poland | 5 | /··/˘ |
| Is half the world away." | 6 | ····˘/ |
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.