Analysis of Between the Dusk of a Summer Night

William Ernest Henley 1849 (Gloucester) – 1903 (Woking)



Between the dusk of a summer night
    And the dawn of a summer day,
  We caught at a mood as it passed in flight,
    And we bade it stoop and stay.
  And what with the dawn of night began
    With the dusk of day was done;
  For that is the way of woman and man,
    When a hazard has made them one.
  Arc upon arc, from shade to shine,
  The World went thundering free;
And what was his errand but hers and mine --
  The lords of him, I and she?
O, it's die we must, but it's live we can,
  And the marvel of earth and sun
Is all for the joy of woman and man
  And the longing that makes them one.


Scheme ABABCDCDEFEFCDCD
Poetic Form
Metre 010110101 00110101 1110111101 0111101 011011101 1011111 1110111001 10101111 10111111 0111001 0111101001 0111101 1111111111 00101101 1110111001 00101111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 593
Words 126
Sentences 5
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 16
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 27
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 426
Words per stanza (avg) 124
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 23, 2023

38 sec read
160

William Ernest Henley

William Ernest Henley was an English poet, critic and editor, best remembered for his 1875 poem "Invictus". more…

All William Ernest Henley poems | William Ernest Henley Books

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