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Scansion of "the chilrens hour" By Longfellow
Posted by: Vicki (---.rasserver.net)
Date: March 13, 2022 08:04PM
to anyone who can help me I need the scansion of The children's Hour" By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. I've figrued the rhyme scheme but not the stressed and unstressed, and meter. can anyone help?
Re: Scansion of "the chilrens hour" By Longfellow
Posted by: IanB (---.tnt11.mel1.da.uu.net)
Date: March 13, 2022 11:46PM
So here's the poem:
Between the dark and the daylight,
When the night is beginning to lower,
Comes a pause in the day's occupations,
That is known as the Children's Hour.
I hear in the chamber above me
The patter of little feet,
The sound of a door that is opened,
And voices soft and sweet.
From my study I see in the lamplight,
Descending the broad hall stair,
Grave Alice, and laughing Allegra,
And Edith with golden hair.
A whisper, and then a silence:
Yet I know by their merry eyes
They are plotting and planning together
To take me by surprise.
A sudden rush from the stairway,
A sudden raid from the hall!
By three doors left unguarded
They enter my castle wall!
They climb up into my turret
O'er the arms and back of my chair;
If I try to escape, they surround me;
They seem to be everywhere.
They almost devour me with kisses,
Their arms about me entwine,
Till I think of the Bishop of Bingen
In his Mouse-Tower on the Rhine!
Do you think, o blue-eyed banditti,
Because you have scaled the wall,
Such an old mustache as I am
Is not a match for you all!
I have you fast in my fortress,
And will not let you depart,
But put you down into the dungeon
In the round-tower of my heart.
And there will I keep you forever,
Yes, forever and a day,
Till the walls shall crumble to ruin,
And moulder in dust away!
If you say the poem aloud in a natural, rhythmic way, you'll find that it's all made up of three-stress lines. Thus -
BeTWEEN the DARK and the DAYlight
When the NIGHT is beGINNing to LOWer
Within that pattern, each stress foot is either a iamb or an anapaest, with an extra unstressed syllable (a 'feminine' ending) at the end of every first and third line. For example there's a line with three iambs:
And VOIces SOFT and SWEET
and several with three anapaests [plus the feminine ending]:
From my STUDy I SEE in the LAMP[light]
Other lines mix the two kinds of feet. All these variations stop the rhythm of the poem from becoming too sing-song.
Between the dark and the daylight,
When the night is beginning to lower,
Comes a pause in the day's occupations,
That is known as the Children's Hour.
I hear in the chamber above me
The patter of little feet,
The sound of a door that is opened,
And voices soft and sweet.
From my study I see in the lamplight,
Descending the broad hall stair,
Grave Alice, and laughing Allegra,
And Edith with golden hair.
A whisper, and then a silence:
Yet I know by their merry eyes
They are plotting and planning together
To take me by surprise.
A sudden rush from the stairway,
A sudden raid from the hall!
By three doors left unguarded
They enter my castle wall!
They climb up into my turret
O'er the arms and back of my chair;
If I try to escape, they surround me;
They seem to be everywhere.
They almost devour me with kisses,
Their arms about me entwine,
Till I think of the Bishop of Bingen
In his Mouse-Tower on the Rhine!
Do you think, o blue-eyed banditti,
Because you have scaled the wall,
Such an old mustache as I am
Is not a match for you all!
I have you fast in my fortress,
And will not let you depart,
But put you down into the dungeon
In the round-tower of my heart.
And there will I keep you forever,
Yes, forever and a day,
Till the walls shall crumble to ruin,
And moulder in dust away!
If you say the poem aloud in a natural, rhythmic way, you'll find that it's all made up of three-stress lines. Thus -
BeTWEEN the DARK and the DAYlight
When the NIGHT is beGINNing to LOWer
Within that pattern, each stress foot is either a iamb or an anapaest, with an extra unstressed syllable (a 'feminine' ending) at the end of every first and third line. For example there's a line with three iambs:
And VOIces SOFT and SWEET
and several with three anapaests [plus the feminine ending]:
From my STUDy I SEE in the LAMP[light]
Other lines mix the two kinds of feet. All these variations stop the rhythm of the poem from becoming too sing-song.
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