Analysis of Hymn to the Night
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807 (Portland) – 1882 (Cambridge)
I heard the trailing garments of the Night
Sweep through her marble halls!
I saw her sable skirts all fringed with light
From the celestial walls!
I felt her presence, by its spell of might,
Stoop o'er me from above;
The calm, majestic presence of the Night,
As of the one I love.
I heard the sounds of sorrow and delight,
The manifold, soft chimes,
That fill the haunted chambers of the Night
Like some old poet's rhymes.
From the cool cisterns of the midnight air
My spirit drank repose;
The fountain of perpetual peace flows there,--
From those deep cisterns flows.
O holy Night! from thee I learn to bear
What man has borne before!
Thou layest thy finger on the lips of Care,
And they complain no more.
Peace! Peace! Orestes-like I breathe this prayer!
Descend with broad-winged flight,
The welcome, the thrice-prayed for, the most fair,
The best-beloved Night!
Scheme | ABAB ACAC ADAD EFEF EGEG EAEA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 1101010101 110101 1101011111 100101 1101011111 1101101 0101010101 110111 1101110001 01011 1101010101 111101 101101011 110101 01010100111 111101 1101111111 111101 1111010111 010111 1101011111 011111 0100111011 01011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 912 |
Words | 155 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 113 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 26 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 24, 2023
- 47 sec read
- 199 Views
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"Hymn to the Night" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18635/hymn-to-the-night>.
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