The Nightingale: A Conversation Poem

The poem is written in blank verse, which means that it is unrhymed. This is Coleridge’s preferred form for all of his conversation poems. Most blank verse poems are also written in iambic pentameter, meaning that each line is made up of five poetic feet and each foot consists of two syllables, an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable—and this is true for most of the lines in “The Nightingale.” The following lines are all examples of iambic pentameter: “A balm | y night! | and though | the stars | be dim” (Line 8); “And hark! | the Night | ingale | begins | its song (Line 12); “And made | all gent | le sounds | tell back | the tale” (Line 20); and “That gent | le Maid! | and oft, | a mo | ment’s space” (Line 77).

Coleridge uses a number of substitutions, however. These are occasional alterations in the meter, often for variety and emphasis. “No long | thin slip” (Line 2), referring to light, uses a spondee (two stressed syllables) as part of three monosyllabic words that slow up the rhythm and suggest the slow extinguishing of the daylight. “Nature’s | sweet voic | es” (Line 42) is a trochee followed by a spondee. A trochee is the opposite of an iamb, comprising a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one. “His love | -chant, and” (Line 48) is an iamb followed by a trochee; “Their bright, | bright eyes” (Line 68) is an iamb followed by a spondee.