Dream-Tryst
THE breaths of kissing night and dayWere mingled in the eastern Heaven:Throbbing with unheard melodyShook Lyra all its star-chord seven:When dusk shrunk cold, and light trod shy,And dawn’s grey eyes were troubled grey;And souls went palely up the sky,And mine to Lucidé.
There was no change in her sweet eyesSince last I saw those sweet eyes shine;There was no change in her deep heartSince last that deep heart knocked at mine.Her eyes were clear, her eyes were Hope’s,Wherein did ever come and goThe sparkle of the fountain-dropsFrom her sweet soul below.
The chambers in the house of dreamsAre fed with so divine an air,That Time’s hoar wings grow young therein,And they who walk there are most fair.I joyed for me, I joyed for her,Who with the Past meet girt about:Where our last kiss still warms the air,Nor can her eyes go out.
Words in this poem
- unheard a.
- Not heard; not perceived by the ear; as, words unheard by those present.
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- lyra n.
- A northern constellation, the Harp, containing a white star of the first magnitude, called Alpha Lyræ, or Vega. [L. lyra, Gr. Lyre.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- palely adv.
- In a pale manner; dimly; wanly; not freshly or ruddily. [From Pale, a.]
- hoar v. t.
- To become moldy or musty. [AS. harian to grow gray.]
- girt v. t.
- To gird; to encircle; to invest by means of a girdle; to measure the girth of; as, to girt a tree. [From Girt, n., cf. Girth, v.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Dream-Tryst is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #1469; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Francis Thompson, Dream-Tryst, in Poems (1893) (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1469, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/thompson-poems/dream-tryst.html, id L01707.
Form and metre
Dream-Tryst is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 29% 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 AB-BCAC- dayA · heavenB · melody · sevenB · shyC · greyA · skyC · lucidé
- 2 -A-A-B-B eyes · shineA · heart · mineA · hope's · goB · drops · belowB
- 3 -A-A-BAB dreams · airA · therein · fairA · her · aboutB · airA · outB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| THE breaths of kissing night and day | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Were mingled in the eastern Heaven: | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Throbbing with unheard melody | 8 | /˘·˘//˘˘ |
| Shook Lyra all its star-chord seven: | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| When dusk shrunk cold, and light trod shy, | 8 | ········ |
| And dawn’s grey eyes were troubled grey; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And souls went palely up the sky, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And mine to Lucidé. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| There was no change in her sweet eyes | 8 | ········ |
| Since last I saw those sweet eyes shine; | 8 | ········ |
| There was no change in her deep heart | 8 | ········ |
| Since last that deep heart knocked at mine. | 8 | ········ |
| Her eyes were clear, her eyes were Hope’s, | 8 | ········ |
| Wherein did ever come and go | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The sparkle of the fountain-drops | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| From her sweet soul below. | 6 | ······ |
| The chambers in the house of dreams | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Are fed with so divine an air, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| That Time’s hoar wings grow young therein, | 8 | ········ |
| And they who walk there are most fair. | 8 | ········ |
| I joyed for me, I joyed for her, | 8 | ········ |
| Who with the Past meet girt about: | 8 | ········ |
| Where our last kiss still warms the air, | 8 | ·/······ |
| Nor can her eyes go out. | 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.