Lyric Poem · Nature

'Tis moonlight, summer moonlight

by Emily Brontë

Reading room

1'Tis moonlight, summer moonlight,

2All soft and still and fair;

3The solemn hour of midnight

4Breathes sweet thoughts everywhere,

5But most where trees are sending

6Their breezy boughs on high,

7Or stooping low are lending

8A shelter from the sky.

9And there in those wild bowers

10A lovely form is laid;

11Green grass and dew-steeped flowers

12Wave gently round her head.

Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.

Tip: click any line number to copy a ready-made citation for that line.

“'Tis moonlight, summer moonlight” by Emily Brontë — quilloak.com/poems/tis-moonlight-summer-moonlight

Quick facts

Poem: 'Tis moonlight, summer moonlight
Poet: Emily Brontë
Length: 12 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Nature, Summer

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: 12 lines · 3 quatrains
Line length: Lines run 6-7 syllables (median 7). No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.

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.

Want the rules this form is measured against? Read what makes a lyric poem, or run your own draft through the form checker to see the same measurements on your lines. How we measure · Report a mistake

Text, source & rights

A traceable edition

Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.

Author record: Emily Brontë1818–1848
Source record: PoetryDB'Tis moonlight, summer moonlight by emily-bronte, PoetryDB transcription
Display decision: Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record: Not recorded in the imported source
Text fingerprint: SHA-256 c47ed9a6f5fec381…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

Jurisdiction-specific, never a worldwide claimRights policy Report a text or rights issue

Lyric Poem Nature Summer

Keep reading

She Walks in Beauty

Lord Byron · 1814

She walks in beauty, like the nightOf cloudless climes and starry skies;And all that's best of dark and bright

18 lines · lyric

Love's Philosophy

Percy Bysshe Shelley · 1819

The fountains mingle with the riverAnd the rivers with the ocean,The winds of heaven mix for ever

16 lines · lyric

When You Are Old

W. B. Yeats · 1893

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,And nodding by the fire, take down this book,And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

12 lines · lyric

More nature poems →