Lyric Poem · Nature

Daylight and Moonlight

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Reading room

1In broad daylight, and at noon,

2Yesterday I saw the moon

3Sailing high, but faint and white,

4As a schoolboy's paper kite.

5In broad daylight, yesterday,

6I read a poet's mystic lay;

7And it seemed to me at most

8As a phantom, or a ghost.

9But at length the feverish day

10Like a passion died away,

11And the night, serene and still,

12Fell on village, vale, and hill.

13Then the moon, in all her pride,

14Like a spirit glorified,

15Filled and overflowed the night

16With revelations of her light.

17And the Poet's song again

18Passed like music through my brain;

19Night interpreted to me

20All its grace and mystery.

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“Daylight and Moonlight” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow — quilloak.com/poems/daylight-and-moonlight

Quick facts

Poem: Daylight and Moonlight
Poet: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Length: 20 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Nature, Death & Loss

Craft notes

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Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.

Shape: 20 lines · 5 quatrains
Line length: Mostly 7-syllable lines.

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Author record: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow1807–1882
Source record: PoetryDBDaylight and Moonlight by henry-wadsworth-longfellow, PoetryDB transcription
Display decision: Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record: Not recorded in the imported source
Text fingerprint: SHA-256 03a0a12ac6349ff6…
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Lyric Poem Nature Death & Loss

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