A Common Thought
Somewhere on this earthly planetIn the dust of flowers to be,In the dewdrop, in the sunshine,Sleeps a solemn day for me.
At this wakeful hour of midnightI behold it dawn in mist,And I hear a sound of sobbingThrough the darkness--hist! oh, hist!
In a dim and murky chamber,I am breathing life away;Some one draws a curtain softly,And I watch the broadening day.
As it purples in the zenith,As it brightens on the lawn,There's a hush of death about me,And a whisper, "He is gone!"
Words in this poem
- somewhere adv.
- In some place unknown or not specified; in one place or another.
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
- wakeful a.
- Not sleeping; indisposed to sleep; watchful; vigilant.
- sobbing n.
- A series of short, convulsive inspirations, the glottis being suddenly closed so that little or no air enters into the lungs.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Common Thought is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of Henry Timrod; with Memoir, Project Gutenberg ebook #845; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry Timrod, A Common Thought, in Poems (1860–1867), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #845, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/timrod-poems/a-common-thought.html, id L10509.
Form and metre
A Common Thought is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.7 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 19% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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 planet · beA · sunshine · meA
- 2 -A-A midnight · mistA · sobbing · histA
- 3 -A-A chamber · awayA · softly · dayA
- 4 -A-A zenith · lawnA · me · goneA
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Somewhere on this earthly planet | 8 | /···/˘/˘ |
| In the dust of flowers to be, | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| In the dewdrop, in the sunshine, | 8 | ··/˘··/· |
| Sleeps a solemn day for me. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| At this wakeful hour of midnight | 9 | ··/˘/˘·/· |
| I behold it dawn in mist, | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| And I hear a sound of sobbing | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Through the darkness--hist! oh, hist! | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| In a dim and murky chamber, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| I am breathing life away; | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Some one draws a curtain softly, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| And I watch the broadening day. | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| As it purples in the zenith, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| As it brightens on the lawn, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| There's a hush of death about me, | 8 | ········ |
| And a whisper, "He is gone!" | 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.