[{"poem":{"title":"Lines for a Sun-Dial","text":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022long-line\u0022\u003EWith shadowy pen I write,\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022long-line\u0022\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;Till time be done,\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022long-line\u0022\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;Good news of some strange light,\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022long-line\u0022\u003ESome far off sun.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","soundcloud":"\u003Ciframe width=\u0022100%\u0022 height=\u0022300\u0022 scrolling=\u0022no\u0022 frameborder=\u0022no\u0022 allow=\u0022autoplay; encrypted-media\u0022 src=\u0022https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/soundcloud%3Atracks%3A2419793235%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-vjQf1MvSNCa\u0026color=%23ff5500\u0026auto_play=false\u0026hide_related=false\u0026show_comments=true\u0026show_user=true\u0026show_reposts=false\u0026show_teaser=true\u0026visual=true\u0022\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\u0022font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;\u0022\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/poets-org\u0022 title=\u0022Academy of American Poets\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 style=\u0022color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\u0022\u003EAcademy of American Poets\u003C\/a\u003E \u00b7 \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/poets-org\/alfred-noyes-lines-for-a-sun\/s-vjQf1MvSNCa\u0022 title=\u0022Alfred Noyes: \u201cLines for a Sun-Dial\u201d\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 style=\u0022color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\u0022\u003EAlfred Noyes: \u201cLines for a Sun-Dial\u201d\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","uuid":"15c55cdc-a2d5-45e9-8e92-13f01b632dc3","alias":"\/poem\/lines-sun-dial","attribution":"\u003Cp\u003EThis poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on October 18, 2026, by the Academy of American Poets.\u003C\/p\u003E","about":"\u003Cp\u003E\u201cLines for a Sun-Dial\u201d was included in Alfred Noyes\u2019s \u003Cem\u003EThe New Morning\u003C\/em\u003E (Frederick A. Stokes, 1907). About Noyes\u2019s shorter poems, poet Edward Davison writes in his essay \u201cThe Poetry of Alfred Noyes,\u201d published in \u003Cem\u003EThe English Journal\u003C\/em\u003E, Vol. 15, No. 4 (April 1926), \u201cHis verse, even when, as in \u003Cem\u003EThe Torch Bearers\u003C\/em\u003E, it deals with the very quality and range of the human intellect in its finest in stances, is never intellectual. It means just what it says and no more. We cannot plunge through the superficial meaning into depth after depth of parallel meaning, as in the poems of \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/poets.org\/poet\/walter-de-la-mare\u0022\u003EWalter de la Mare\u003C\/a\u003E and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/poets.org\/poet\/w-b-yeats\u0022\u003EW. B. Yeats\u003C\/a\u003E. In the strictest sense of the word Alfred Noyes is a \u2018simple\u2019 poet. Perhaps \u2018elementary\u2019 would be a better word. He is to be compared with \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/poets.org\/poet\/henry-wadsworth-longfellow\u0022\u003ELongfellow\u003C\/a\u003E rather than with \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/poets.org\/poet\/william-wordsworth\u0022\u003EWordsworth\u003C\/a\u003E, both simple poets in the superficial sense of the word. But to say that his poetry is shallow is not to say that the best of it is shallow in feeling. It is only shallow in the sense that it is obvious. One does not return to Noyes\u2019s poetry with the knowledge that each new reading will increase our sense of its significance. Its values are face values; its music that of a \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/poets.org\/glossary\/ballad\u0022\u003Eballad\u003C\/a\u003E, not of a \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/poets.org\/glossary\/madrigal\u0022\u003Emadrigal\u003C\/a\u003E.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","vertical":null},"poet":{"name":"Alfred Noyes","alias":"\/poet\/alfred-noyes","image":"https:\/\/api.poets.org\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/poem_a_day_portrait\/public\/images\/biographies\/AlfredNoyes_NewBioImage_0.jpg?itok=tfO6dpGU"}}]