Nightfall
We will never walk againAs we used to walk at night,Watching our shadows lengthenUnder the gold street-lightWhen the snow was new and white.
We will never walk againSlowly, we two,In spring when the park is sweetWith midnight and with dew,And the passers-by are few.
I sit and think of it all,And the blue June twilight dies,--Down in the clanging squareA street-piano criesAnd stars come out in the skies.
It is not a word spoken,Few words are said;Nor even a look of the eyesNor a bend of the head,But only a hush of the heartThat has too much to keep,Only memories wakingThat sleep so light a sleep.
My heart is heavy with many a songLike ripe fruit bearing down the tree,But I can never give you one--My songs do not belong to me.
Yet in the evening, in the duskWhen moths go to and fro,In the gray hour if the fruit has fallen,Take it, no one will know.
About this text
Nightfall 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, Nightfall, in Flame and Shadow (1920), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #591, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/teasdale-flame-shadow/nightfall.html, id L16985.
Form and metre
Nightfall is 31 lines in 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.9 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 39% 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 ABABB againA · nightB · lengthenA · lightB · whiteB
- 2 -A-AA again · twoA · sweet · dewA · fewA
- 3 -A-AA all · diesA · square · criesA · skiesA
- 4 -A-A-B-B spoken · saidA · eyes · headA · heart · keepB · waking · sleepB
- 5 -A-A song · treeA · one · meA
- 6 -A-A dusk · froA · fallen · knowA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| We will never walk again | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| As we used to walk at night, | 7 | ······· |
| Watching our shadows lengthen | 8 | /˘/˘/·/˘ |
| Under the gold street-light | 6 | ······ |
| When the snow was new and white. | 7 | ······· |
| We will never walk again | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Slowly, we two, | 4 | /˘·· |
| In spring when the park is sweet | 7 | ······· |
| With midnight and with dew, | 6 | ·/···· |
| And the passers-by are few. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| I sit and think of it all, | 7 | ······· |
| And the blue June twilight dies,-- | 7 | ····/·· |
| Down in the clanging square | 6 | ···/˘· |
| A street-piano cries | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| And stars come out in the skies. | 7 | ······· |
| It is not a word spoken, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Few words are said; | 4 | ···· |
| Nor even a look of the eyes | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Nor a bend of the head, | 6 | ······ |
| But only a hush of the heart | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| That has too much to keep, | 6 | ······ |
| Only memories waking | 7 | /˘/˘˘/˘ |
| That sleep so light a sleep. | 6 | ······ |
| My heart is heavy with many a song | 9 | ···/˘·/·· |
| Like ripe fruit bearing down the tree, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| But I can never give you one-- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| My songs do not belong to me. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Yet in the evening, in the dusk | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| When moths go to and fro, | 6 | ······ |
| In the gray hour if the fruit has fallen, | 10 | ···/····/˘ |
| Take it, no one will know. | 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.