Lyric Poem · Nature

The Light of Stars

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Reading room

1The night is come, but not too soon;

2And sinking silently,

3All silently, the little moon

4Drops down behind the sky.

5There is no light in earth or heaven

6But the cold light of stars;

7And the first watch of night is given

8To the red planet Mars.

9Is it the tender star of love?

10The star of love and dreams?

11O no! from that blue tent above,

12A hero's armor gleams.

13And earnest thoughts within me rise,

14When I behold afar,

15Suspended in the evening skies,

16The shield of that red star.

17O star of strength! I see thee stand

18And smile upon my pain;

19Thou beckonest with thy mailed hand,

20And I am strong again.

21Within my breast there is no light

22But the cold light of stars;

23I give the first watch of the night

24To the red planet Mars.

25The star of the unconquered will,

26He rises in my breast,

27Serene, and resolute, and still,

28And calm, and self-possessed.

29And thou, too, whosoe'er thou art,

30That readest this brief psalm,

31As one by one thy hopes depart,

32Be resolute and calm.

33O fear not in a world like this,

34And thou shalt know erelong,

35Know how sublime a thing it is

36To suffer and be strong.

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“The Light of Stars” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow — quilloak.com/poems/the-light-of-stars

Quick facts

Poem: The Light of Stars
Poet: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Length: 36 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Nature, Love, Hope

Craft notes

How this poem works

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: 36 lines · 9 quatrains
Line length: Consistent with common metre. Alternating eight- and six-syllable lines — the hymn stanza (8.6.8.6), the most-used quatrain in English verse.
Refrains: “But the cold light of stars;”“To the red planet Mars.”Repeated lines act as the poem's hinge or drumbeat.

The poem’s silhouette — approximate syllables per line, measured from the text above. Even bars mean a measured line; ragged bars mean the poem sets its own widths.

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Author record: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow1807–1882
Source record: PoetryDBThe Light of Stars 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 0bd77722d2057192…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Nature Love Hope

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