Midnight

Archibald Lampman 1861 (Upper Canada) – 1899 (Ottawa, Canada)



From where I sit, I see the stars,
     And down the chilly floor
   The moon between the frozen bars
     Is glimmering dim and hoar.
   Without in many a peakèd mound
     The glinting snowdrifts lie;
   There is no voice or living sound;
     The embers slowly die.
   Yet some wild thing is in mine ear;
    I hold my breath and hark;
  Out of the depth I seem to hear
    A crying in the dark;

  No sound of man or wife or child,
    No sound of beast that groans,
  Or of the wind that whistles wild,
    Or of the tree that moans:
  I know not what it is I hear;
    I bend my head and hark:
  I cannot drive it from mine ear,
    That crying in the dark.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 18, 2023

38 sec read
77

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABCDCDEFEF GHGHEFEF
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 660
Words 127
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 12, 8

Archibald Lampman

Archibald Lampman FRSC was a Canadian poet. "He has been described as 'the Canadian Keats;' and he is perhaps the most outstanding exponent of the Canadian school of nature poets." The Canadian Encyclopedia says that he is "generally considered the finest of Canada's late 19th-century poets in English." Lampman is classed as one of Canada's Confederation Poets, a group which also includes Charles G.D. Roberts, Bliss Carman, and Duncan Campbell Scott. more…

All Archibald Lampman poems | Archibald Lampman Books

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