Poetry Blog No 184 Moonset

MOONSET 

 

      In some ways a printed poem can be considered as more than a conveyance of meaning and imagery. It can also (like a written music score) be thought of as a pattern for an acoustic “object”.

     This object can be re-created by recitation or even by quietly reading aloud to oneself.

In this short poem two of the acoustic features (amongst others) are the repetition (or assonance) of the vowel i (as in night) and the stressed, unstressed, unstressed foot in the meter. This is called a dactyl or dactylic foot. (Wild is the wind as it rides with the night) . Although most lines end on a stressed syllable, because the meaning doesn't directly run over to the next line (technically called enjambment) a slight pause before speaking the next line could be felt as two "silent" unstressed syllables.

 

                                    MOONSET

Wild is the wind as it rides with the night;

Wild is the wind as it sets the sky sighing.

Bright's the thin moon as westward it's lying.

Bright is the white-shining chalice of light,

Bearing the circle of earth-light's far shine.

Silent's the sightless, swift passing of time.

Silent is time as it's endlessly flying.

Bright is the moonship on time's ebbing tide;

Bright as it glides beneath dark of earth side;

Smiling good-bye on horizon's black bar-

Leaving the night to wild wind, dark and star.