Dusk in War Time
A half-hour more and you will leanTo gather me close in the old sweet way--But oh, to the woman over the seaWho will come at the close of day?
A half-hour more and I will hearThe key in the latch and the strong, quick tread--But oh, the woman over the seaWaiting at dusk for one who is dead!
Words in this poem
- latch v. t.
- To smear; to anoint. [Cf. F. lécher to lick (of German origin). Cf. Lick.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Dusk in War Time is in the public domain. This text is taken from Love Songs, Project Gutenberg ebook #442; 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, Dusk in War Time, in Love Songs (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #442, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/teasdale-love-songs/dusk-in-war-time.html, id L08088.
Form and metre
Dusk in War Time is 8 lines in 2 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 77%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.8 syllables. 50% 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 lean · wayA · sea · dayA
- 2 -A-A hear · treadA · sea · deadA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A half-hour more and you will lean | 8 | ··/····· |
| To gather me close in the old sweet way-- | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| But oh, to the woman over the sea | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Who will come at the close of day? | 8 | ········ |
| A half-hour more and I will hear | 8 | ··/····· |
| The key in the latch and the strong, quick tread-- | 10 | ·········· |
| But oh, the woman over the sea | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Waiting at dusk for one who is dead! | 9 | /˘······· |
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.