Sara Teasdale’s “Dew” opens with two quiet images from early morning: dew slipping off a star-threaded cobweb and dawn making grass, weeds, and seeds glint like jewels. These are small, fleeting moments, but the speaker sees them as full of brightness. In the second half, the speaker says a lover’s love has done the same thing to life. It has freshened the world like dawn, given a “shining road” to travel on, and made everyday sights such as trees and stones light up for the speaker alone. The feeling is one of grateful, intimate wonder. Ordinary things become delicate and luminous because love has changed how the speaker sees the world. The poem is tender and calm, more like a hushed morning than a grand declaration, and its music is soft and clear, matching the dew it describes.
Dew — Summary
As dew leaves the cobweb lightly Threaded with stars, Scattering jewels on the fence And the pasture bars; As dawn leaves the dry grass bright And the tangled weeds Bearing a rainbow gem On each of their seeds; So has your love, my lover, Fresh as the dawn, Made me a shining road To travel on, Set every common sight Of tree or stone Delicately alight For me alone.