A Sleepless Night

Alfred Austin 1835 (Leeds) – 1913 (Ashford)



Within the hollow silence of the night
I lay awake and listened. I could hear
Planet with punctual planet chiming clear,
And unto star star cadencing aright.
Nor these alone: cloistered from deafening sight,
All things that are, made music to my ear:
Hushed woods, dumb caves, and many a soundless mere,
With Arctic mains in rigid sleep locked tight.
But ever with this chant from shore and sea,
From singing constellation, humming thought,
And life through time's stops blowing variously,
A melancholy undertone was wrought;
And from its boundless prison-house I caught
The awful wail of lone Eternity.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 03, 2023

30 sec read
166

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCAABCADEDEFD
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 598
Words 101
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

Alfred Austin

Alfred Austin DL was an English poet who was appointed Poet Laureate in 1896 upon the death of Alfred, Lord Tennyson. more…

All Alfred Austin poems | Alfred Austin Books

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