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
- 168 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABCAABCADEDEFD |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 598 |
Words | 101 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
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"A Sleepless Night" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/652/a-sleepless-night>.
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