Birds in the Night II
But you will own that I was in the rightWhen in my downcast moods I used to sayThat your sweet eyes, my hope, once, and delight!Were come to look like eyes that will betray.
It was an evil lie, you used to swear,And your glance, which was lying, dear, would flame,--Poor fire, near out, one stirs to make it flare!--And in your soft voice you would say, "Je t'aime!"
Alas! that one should clutch at happinessIn sense's, season's, everything's despite!--But 'twas an hour of gleeful bitternessWhen I became convinced that I was right!
Words in this poem
- flare v. i.
- To burn with an unsteady or waving flame; as, the candle flares. [Cf. Norw. flara to blaze, flame, adorn with tinsel, dial. Sw. flasa upp, and E. flash, or flacker.]
- gleeful a.
- Merry; gay; joyous.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Birds in the Night II is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #8426, the Gertrude Hall translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Paul Verlaine, Birds in the Night II, in Poems (1895), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8426, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/verlaine-poems/birds-in-the-night-ii.html, id L15494.
Form and metre
Birds in the Night II is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 33% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABAB rightA · sayB · delightA · betrayB
- 2 A-A- swearA · flame · flareA · t'aime
- 3 -A-A happiness · despiteA · bitterness · rightA
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| But you will own that I was in the right | 10 | ·········· |
| When in my downcast moods I used to say | 10 | ···/······ |
| That your sweet eyes, my hope, once, and delight! | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Were come to look like eyes that will betray. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| It was an evil lie, you used to swear, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And your glance, which was lying, dear, would flame,-- | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Poor fire, near out, one stirs to make it flare!-- | 10 | ·/········ |
| And in your soft voice you would say, "Je t'aime!" | 10 | ·········· |
| Alas! that one should clutch at happiness | 10 | ˘/·····/˘˘ |
| In sense's, season's, everything's despite!-- | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| But 'twas an hour of gleeful bitterness | 11 | ···/˘·/˘/˘˘ |
| When I became convinced that I was right! | 10 | ··˘/˘/···· |
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.