Lights Out
I HAVE come to the borders of sleep,The unfathomable deepForest where all must loseTheir way, however straight,Or winding, soon or late;They cannot choose.
Many a road and trackThat, since the dawn's first crack,Up to the forest brink,Deceived the travellersSuddenly now blurs,And in they sink.
Here love ends,Despair, ambition ends,All pleasure and all trouble,Although most sweet or bitter,Here ends in sleep that is sweeterThan tasks most noble.
There is not any bookOr face of dearest lookThat I would not turn from nowTo go into the unknownI must enter and leave aloneI know not how.
The tall forest towers;Its cloudy foliage lowersAhead, shelf above shelf;Its silence I hear and obeyThat I may lose my wayAnd myself.
Words in this poem
- brink n.
- The edge, margin, or border of a steep place, as of a precipice; a bank or edge, as of a river or pit; a verge; a border; as, the brink of a chasm. Also Fig. [Dan. brink edge, verge; akin to Sw. brink declivity, hill, Icel. brekka; cf. LG. brink a grassy hill, W. bryn hill, bryncyn hillock.]
- ahead adv.
- In or to the front; in advance; onward. [Pref. a- + head.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Lights Out is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #22423; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edward Thomas, Lights Out, in Poems (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22423, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/thomas-edward-poems/lights-out.html, id L08193.
Form and metre
Lights Out is 30 lines in 5 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABCCB, complete in 3 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, 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 6.0 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 43% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 AABCCB sleepA · deepA · loseB · straightC · lateC · chooseB
- 2 AABCCB trackA · crackA · brinkB · travellersC · blursC · sinkB
- 3 AA---- endsA · endsA · trouble · bitter · sweeter · noble
- 4 AABCCB bookA · lookA · nowB · unknownC · aloneC · howB
- 5 --ABBA towers · lowers · shelfA · obeyB · wayB · myselfA
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I HAVE come to the borders of sleep, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| The unfathomable deep | 7 | ·˘/˘˘˘· |
| Forest where all must lose | 6 | /˘···· |
| Their way, however straight, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Or winding, soon or late; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| They cannot choose. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Many a road and track | 6 | /˘···· |
| That, since the dawn's first crack, | 6 | ······ |
| Up to the forest brink, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Deceived the travellers | 6 | ˘/·/˘˘ |
| Suddenly now blurs, | 5 | /˘˘·· |
| And in they sink. | 4 | ···· |
| Here love ends, | 3 | ··· |
| Despair, ambition ends, | 6 | ˘/˘/˘· |
| All pleasure and all trouble, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Although most sweet or bitter, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Here ends in sleep that is sweeter | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Than tasks most noble. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| There is not any book | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Or face of dearest look | 6 | ···/˘· |
| That I would not turn from now | 7 | ······· |
| To go into the unknown | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| I must enter and leave alone | 8 | ··/˘··˘/ |
| I know not how. | 4 | ···· |
| The tall forest towers; | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Its cloudy foliage lowers | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| Ahead, shelf above shelf; | 6 | ˘/···· |
| Its silence I hear and obey | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| That I may lose my way | 6 | ······ |
| And myself. | 3 | ··/ |
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.