Four by the Clock by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
At four in the morning, the speaker reflects on the world turning toward dawn. A lamp on an anchored vessel glimmers through the darkness, and only the sea's heavy breathing is heard.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Descriptive Poetry · 105 words
First lines
"NAHANT, September 8, 1880, / Four o'clock in the morning."
Four by the clock! and yet not day; / But the great world rolls and wheels away, / With its cities on land, and its ships at sea, / Into the dawn that is to be!
Only the lamp in the anchored bark / Sends its glimmer across the dark, / And the heavy breathing of the sea / Is the only sound that comes to me.
Genres
- Lyric Poetry — Two rhymed stanzas present a speaker's immediate perception of darkness, approaching dawn, and the sound of the sea.
- Descriptive Poetry — The scene is defined by a vessel's glimmering lamp and the sea's sound in the darkness before dawn.
Tags
predawn · sea · anchored vessel · lamplight · quiet
What this Textopian page supports
Four by the Clock is listed on Textopian as a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, dated Date unknown.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Lyric Poetry, Descriptive Poetry
- Length: 105 words
- Structure: 1 section, 3 paragraphs
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