Winter Dusk
I watch the great clear twilightVeiling the ice-bowed trees;Their branches tinkle faintlyWith crystal melodies.
The larches bend their silverOver the hush of snow;One star is lighted in the west,Two in the zenith glow.
For a moment I have forgottenWars and women who mourn--I think of the mother who bore meAnd thank her that I was born.
Words in this poem
- veiling n.
- A veil; a thin covering; also, material for making veils.
- thank n.
- A expression of gratitude; an acknowledgment expressive of a sense of favor or kindness received; obligation, claim, or desert, or gratitude; -- now generally used in the plural. [AS. Þanc, Þonc, thanks, favor, thought; akin to OS. thank favor, pleasure, thanks, D. & G. dank thanks, Icel. Þ\'94kk, Dan. tak, Sw. tack, Goth. Þagks thanks; -]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Winter Dusk 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, Winter Dusk, in Flame and Shadow (1920), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #591, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/teasdale-flame-shadow/winter-dusk.html, id L17003.
Form and metre
Winter Dusk is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 42% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common 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 twilight · treesA · faintly · melodiesA
- 2 -A-A silver · snowA · west · glowA
- 3 -A-A forgotten · mournA · me · bornA
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I watch the great clear twilight | 7 | ·····/· |
| Veiling the ice-bowed trees; | 7 | /˘···˘· |
| Their branches tinkle faintly | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| With crystal melodies. | 6 | ·/˘/˘˘ |
| The larches bend their silver | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Over the hush of snow; | 6 | ······ |
| One star is lighted in the west, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Two in the zenith glow. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| For a moment I have forgotten | 9 | ··/˘··˘/˘ |
| Wars and women who mourn-- | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| I think of the mother who bore me | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| And thank her that I was born. | 7 | ······· |
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.