Good Night
In brilliant gas lightI turn the kitchen spigotand watch the water plashinto the clean white sink.On the grooved drain-boardto one side isa glass filled with parsley--crisped green.Waitingfor the water to freshen--I glance at the spotless floor--:a pair of rubber sandalslie side by sideunder the wall-table,all is in order for the night.
Waiting, with a glass in my hand--three girls in crimson satinpass close before me onthe murmurous background ofthe crowded opera--it ismemory playing the clown--three vague, meaningless girlsfull of smells andthe rustling sound ofcloth rubbing on cloth andlittle slippers on carpet--high-school Frenchspoken in a loud voice!
Parsley in a glass,still and shining,brings me back. I take my drinkand yawn deliciously.I am ready for bed.
Words in this poem
- freshen v. t.
- To make fresh; to separate, as water, from saline ingredients; to make less salt; as, to freshen water, fish, or flesh.
- murmurous a.
- Attended with murmurs; exciting murmurs or complaint; murmuring. [Cf. L. murmuriosus, OF. murmuros.]
- deliciously adv.
- Delightfully; as, to feed deliciously; to be deliciously entertained.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Good Night is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Book of Poems, Al Que Quiere!, Project Gutenberg ebook #51997; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Carlos Williams, Good Night, in Al Que Quiere! (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51997, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/williams-al-que-quiere/good-night.html, id L01115.
Form and metre
Good Night is 34 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 79%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.6 syllables. 11 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 56% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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 AA-----B-B----A lightA · spigotA · plash · sink · board · is · parsley · greenB · waiting · freshenB · floor · sandals · side · table · nightA
- 2 ABBC----ACA--- handA · satinB · onB · ofC · opera · is · clown · girls · andA · ofC · andA · carpet · french · voice
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| In brilliant gas light | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| I turn the kitchen spigot | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| and watch the water plash | 6 | ···/˘· |
| into the clean white sink. | 6 | ······ |
| On the grooved drain-board | 5 | ····· |
| to one side is | 4 | ···· |
| a glass filled with parsley-- | 6 | ····/˘ |
| crisped green. | 2 | ·· |
| Waiting | 2 | /˘ |
| for the water to freshen-- | 7 | ··/˘·/˘ |
| I glance at the spotless floor--: | 7 | ····/˘· |
| a pair of rubber sandals | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| lie side by side | 4 | ···· |
| under the wall-table, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| all is in order for the night. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Waiting, with a glass in my hand | 8 | /˘······ |
| --three girls in crimson satin | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| pass close before me on | 6 | ······ |
| the murmurous background of | 7 | ·/˘˘/·· |
| the crowded opera-- | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| it is | 2 | ·· |
| memory playing the clown-- | 7 | /˘˘/˘·· |
| three vague, meaningless girls | 6 | ··/˘˘· |
| full of smells and | 4 | ···· |
| the rustling sound of | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| cloth rubbing on cloth and | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| little slippers on carpet-- | 7 | /˘/˘·/˘ |
| high-school French | 3 | ··· |
| spoken in a loud voice! | 6 | /˘···· |
| Parsley in a glass, | 5 | /˘··· |
| still and shining, | 4 | ··/˘ |
| brings me back. I take my drink | 7 | ······· |
| and yawn deliciously. | 6 | ··˘/˘˘ |
| I am ready for bed. | 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.