The Lilac
Dear lilac-tree, a-spreaden wideThy purple blooth on ev'ry zide,As if the hollow sky did shedIts blue upon thy flow'ry head;Oh! whether I mid sheaere wi' theeThy open air, my bloomen tree,Or zee thy blossoms vrom the gloom,'Ithin my zunless worken-room,My heart do leaep, but leaep wi' sighs,At zight o' thee avore my eyes,For when thy grey-blue head do swayIn cloudless light, 'tis Spring, 'tis May.
'Tis Spring, 'tis May, as May woonce shedHis glowen light above thy head--When thy green boughs, wi' bloomy tips,Did sheaede my childern's laughen lips;A-screenen vrom the noonday gleaereTheir rwosy cheaeks an' glossy heaeir;The while their mother's needle sped,Too quick vor zight, the snow-white thread,Unless her han', wi' loven ceaere,Did smooth their little heads o' heaeir;
Or wi' a sheaeke, tie up anewVor zome wild voot, a slippen shoe;An' I did leaen bezide thy moundAgeaen the deaesy-dappled ground,The while the woaken clock did tickMy hour o' rest away too quick,An' call me off to work anew,Wi' slowly-ringen strokes, woone, two.
Zoo let me zee noo darksome cloudBedim to-day thy flow'ry sh'oud,But let en bloom on ev'ry spray,Drough all the days o' zunny May.
Words in this poem
- blooth n.
- Bloom; a blossoming.
- cloudless a.
- Without a cloud; clear; bright.
- bloomy a.
- Full of bloom; flowery; flourishing with the vigor of youth; as, a bloomy spray.
- noonday n.
- Midday; twelve o'clock in the day; noon.
- darksome a.
- Dark; gloomy; obscure; shaded; cheerless.
- bedim v. t.
- To make dim; to obscure or darken.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Lilac is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect, Project Gutenberg ebook #21785; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Barnes, The Lilac, in Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect (1844–1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #21785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/barnes-dorset/the-lilac.html, id L02200.
Form and metre
The Lilac is 34 lines in 4 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 29% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABBCCDDEEFF wideA · zideA · shedB · headB · theeC · treeC · gloomD · roomD · sighsE · eyesE · swayF · mayF
- 2 AABBCCAACC shedA · headA · tipsB · lipsB · gleaereC · heaeirC · spedA · threadA · ceaereC · heaeirC
- 3 AABBCCAA anewA · shoeA · moundB · groundB · tickC · quickC · anewA · twoA
- 4 AABB cloudA · sh'oudA · sprayB · mayB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Dear lilac-tree, a-spreaden wide | 8 | ·/······ |
| Thy purple blooth on ev'ry zide, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| As if the hollow sky did shed | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Its blue upon thy flow'ry head; | 8 | ········ |
| Oh! whether I mid sheaere wi' thee | 8 | ········ |
| Thy open air, my bloomen tree, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Or zee thy blossoms vrom the gloom, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| 'Ithin my zunless worken-room, | 8 | ········ |
| My heart do leaep, but leaep wi' sighs, | 8 | ········ |
| At zight o' thee avore my eyes, | 8 | ········ |
| For when thy grey-blue head do sway | 8 | ········ |
| In cloudless light, 'tis Spring, 'tis May. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| 'Tis Spring, 'tis May, as May woonce shed | 8 | ········ |
| His glowen light above thy head-- | 8 | ········ |
| When thy green boughs, wi' bloomy tips, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Did sheaede my childern's laughen lips; | 8 | ········ |
| A-screenen vrom the noonday gleaere | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Their rwosy cheaeks an' glossy heaeir; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The while their mother's needle sped, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Too quick vor zight, the snow-white thread, | 8 | ········ |
| Unless her han', wi' loven ceaere, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Did smooth their little heads o' heaeir; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Or wi' a sheaeke, tie up anew | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Vor zome wild voot, a slippen shoe; | 8 | ········ |
| An' I did leaen bezide thy mound | 8 | ········ |
| Ageaen the deaesy-dappled ground, | 8 | ······˘· |
| The while the woaken clock did tick | 8 | ········ |
| My hour o' rest away too quick, | 8 | ·/··˘/·· |
| An' call me off to work anew, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Wi' slowly-ringen strokes, woone, two. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Zoo let me zee noo darksome cloud | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Bedim to-day thy flow'ry sh'oud, | 8 | ˘/······ |
| But let en bloom on ev'ry spray, | 8 | ········ |
| Drough all the days o' zunny May. | 8 | ········ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.