A Watch In The Night Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABBAACAC ADDEAAEA AFFGAAGA AAAHAAHA AIIJAAJA ADDAAKAK ALLJAMJM AAAMADMD AAABANBN AAAOAAOA APQRAARA ASSTAATA AAARAUVU AFFKAJKJ AWWAAJAJ AXXYAUYU AJJJAJJJ ADDWAVWR ALLMAWMWWatchman what of the night | A |
Storm and thunder and rain | B |
Lights that waver and wane | B |
Leaving the watchfires unlit | A |
Only the balefires are bright | A |
And the flash of the lamps now and then | C |
From a palace where spoilers sit | A |
Trampling the children of men | C |
- | |
Prophet what of the night | A |
I stand by the verge of the sea | D |
Banished uncomforted free | D |
Hearing the noise of the waves | E |
And sudden flashes that smite | A |
Some man's tyrannous head | A |
Thundering heard among graves | E |
That hide the hosts of his dead | A |
- | |
Mourners what of the night | A |
All night through without sleep | F |
We weep and we weep and we weep | F |
Who shall give us our sons | G |
Beaks of raven and kite | A |
Mouths of wolf and of hound | A |
Give us them back whom the guns | G |
Shot for you dead on the ground | A |
- | |
Dead men what of the night | A |
Cannon and scaffold and sword | A |
Horror of gibbet and cord | A |
Mowed us as sheaves for the grave | H |
Mowed us down for the right | A |
We do not grudge or repent | A |
Freely to freedom we gave | H |
Pledges till life should be spent | A |
- | |
Statesman what of the night | A |
The night will last me my time | I |
The gold on a crown or a crime | I |
Looks well enough yet by the lamps | J |
Have we not fingers to write | A |
Lips to swear at a need | A |
Then when danger decamps | J |
Bury the word with the deed | A |
- | |
Warrior what of the night | A |
Whether it be not or be | D |
Night is as one thing to me | D |
I for one at the least | A |
Ask not of dews if they blight | A |
Ask not of flames if they slay | K |
Ask not of prince or of priest | A |
How long ere we put them away | K |
- | |
Master what of the night | A |
Child night is not at all | L |
Anywhere fallen or to fall | L |
Save in our star stricken eyes | J |
Forth of our eyes it takes flight | A |
Look we but once nor before | M |
Nor behind us but straight on the skies | J |
Night is not then any more | M |
- | |
Exile what of the night | A |
The tides and the hours run out | A |
The seasons of death and of doubt | A |
The night watches bitter and sore | M |
In the quicksands leftward and right | A |
My feet sink down under me | D |
But I know the scents of the shore | M |
And the broad blown breaths of the sea | D |
- | |
Captives what of the night | A |
It rains outside overhead | A |
Always a rain that is red | A |
And our faces are soiled with the rain | B |
Here in the seasons' despite | A |
Day time and night time are one | N |
Till the curse of the kings and the chain | B |
Break and their toils be undone | N |
- | |
Christian what of the night | A |
I cannot tell I am blind | A |
I halt and hearken behind | A |
If haply the hours will go back | O |
And return to the dear dead light | A |
To the watchfires and stars that of old | A |
Shone where the sky now is black | O |
Glowed where the earth now is cold | A |
- | |
High priest what of the night | A |
The night is horrible here | P |
With haggard faces and fear | Q |
Blood and the burning of fire | R |
Mine eyes are emptied of sight | A |
Mine hands are full of the dust | A |
If the God of my faith be a liar | R |
Who is it that I shall trust | A |
- | |
Princes what of the night | A |
Night with pestilent breath | S |
Feeds us children of death | S |
Clothes us close with her gloom | T |
Rapine and famine and fright | A |
Crouch at our feet and are fed | A |
Earth where we pass is a tomb | T |
Life where we triumph is dead | A |
- | |
Martyrs what of the night | A |
Nay is it night with you yet | A |
We for our part we forget | A |
What night was if it were | R |
The loud red mouths of the fight | A |
Are silent and shut where we are | U |
In our eyes the tempestuous air | V |
Shines as the face of a star | U |
- | |
England what of the night | A |
Night is for slumber and sleep | F |
Warm no season to weep | F |
Let me alone till the day | K |
Sleep would I still if I might | A |
Who have slept for two hundred years | J |
Once I had honour they say | K |
But slumber is sweeter than tears | J |
- | |
France what of the night | A |
Night is the prostitute's noon | W |
Kissed and drugged till she swoon | W |
Spat upon trod upon whored | A |
With bloodred rose garlands dight | A |
Round me reels in the dance | J |
Death my saviour my lord | A |
Crowned there is no more France | J |
- | |
Italy what of the night | A |
Ah child child it is long | X |
Moonbeam and starbeam and song | X |
Leave it dumb now and dark | Y |
Yet I perceive on the height | A |
Eastward not now very far | U |
A song too loud for the lark | Y |
A light too strong for a star | U |
- | |
Germany what of the night | A |
Long has it lulled me with dreams | J |
Now at midwatch as it seems | J |
Light is brought back to mine eyes | J |
And the mastery of old and the might | A |
Lives in the joints of mine hands | J |
Steadies my limbs as they rise | J |
Strengthens my foot as it stands | J |
- | |
Europe what of the night | A |
Ask of heaven and the sea | D |
And my babes on the bosom of me | D |
Nations of mine but ungrown | W |
There is one who shall surely requite | A |
All that endure or that err | V |
She can answer alone | W |
Ask not of me but of her | R |
- | |
Liberty what of the night | A |
I feel not the red rains fall | L |
Hear not the tempest at all | L |
Nor thunder in heaven any more | M |
All the distance is white | A |
With the soundless feet of the sun | W |
Night with the woes that it wore | M |
Night is over and done | W |
Algernon Charles Swinburne
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