June Night
Oh Earth, you are too dear to-night,How can I sleep while all aroundFloats rainy fragrance and the farDeep voice of the ocean that talks to the ground?
Oh Earth, you gave me all I have,I love you, I love you,--oh what have IThat I can give you in return--Except my body after I die?
Like barley bendingIn low fields by the sea,Singing in hard windCeaselessly;
Like barley bendingAnd rising again,So would I, unbroken,Rise from pain;
So would I softly,Day long, night long,Change my sorrowInto song.
Oh day of fire and sun,Pure as a naked flame,Blue sea, blue sky and dunSands where he spoke my name;
Laughter and hearts so highThat the spirit flew off free,Lifting into the skyDiving into the sea;
Oh day of fire and sunLike a crystal burning,Slow days go one by one,But you have no returning.
I thought of you and how you love this beauty,And walking up the long beach all aloneI heard the waves breaking in measured thunderAs you and I once heard their monotone.
Around me were the echoing dunes, beyond meThe cold and sparkling silver of the sea--We two will pass through death and ages lengthenBefore you hear that sound again with me.
Words in this poem
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- monotone n.
- A single unvaried tone or sound. [See Monotonous, Monotony.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
June 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, June Night, in Flame and Shadow (1920), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #591, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/teasdale-flame-shadow/june-night.html, id L17005.
Form and metre
June Night is 40 lines in 10 stanzas of 4 lines each. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABAB, in 3 of the 10 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter. 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 11 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 38% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 -A-A night · aroundA · far · groundA
- 2 -A-A have · iA · return · dieA
- 4 -AAA bending · againA · unbrokenA · painA
- 5 -A-A softly · longA · sorrow · songA
- 6 ABAB sunA · flameB · dunA · nameB
- 7 ABAB highA · freeB · skyA · seaB
- 8 ABAB sunA · burningB · oneA · returningB
- 9 -A-A beauty · aloneA · thunder · monotoneA
- 10 AA-A meA · seaA · lengthen · meA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Oh Earth, you are too dear to-night, | 8 | ········ |
| How can I sleep while all around | 8 | ········ |
| Floats rainy fragrance and the far | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Deep voice of the ocean that talks to the ground? | 10 | ····/····· |
| Oh Earth, you gave me all I have, | 8 | ········ |
| I love you, I love you,--oh what have I | 10 | ·········· |
| That I can give you in return-- | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Except my body after I die? | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Like barley bending | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| In low fields by the sea, | 6 | ······ |
| Singing in hard wind | 5 | /˘··· |
| Ceaselessly; | 3 | /˘˘ |
| Like barley bending | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| And rising again, | 5 | ·/˘˘/ |
| So would I, unbroken, | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| Rise from pain; | 3 | ··· |
| So would I softly, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Day long, night long, | 4 | ···· |
| Change my sorrow | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Into song. | 3 | ··· |
| Oh day of fire and sun, | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Pure as a naked flame, | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| Blue sea, blue sky and dun | 6 | ······ |
| Sands where he spoke my name; | 6 | ······ |
| Laughter and hearts so high | 6 | /˘···· |
| That the spirit flew off free, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Lifting into the sky | 6 | /˘···· |
| Diving into the sea; | 6 | /˘···· |
| Oh day of fire and sun | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Like a crystal burning, | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Slow days go one by one, | 6 | ······ |
| But you have no returning. | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| I thought of you and how you love this beauty, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| And walking up the long beach all alone | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| I heard the waves breaking in measured thunder | 11 | ····/˘·/˘/˘ |
| As you and I once heard their monotone. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Around me were the echoing dunes, beyond me | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| The cold and sparkling silver of the sea-- | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| We two will pass through death and ages lengthen | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Before you hear that sound again with me. | 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.