May Day Customs
I have seen the Lady of the MaySet in an arbour, on a holiday,Built by the May-pole, where the jocund swainsDance with the maidens to the bagpipe's strains,When envious night commands them to be goneCall for the merry youngsters one by one,And for their well performance soon disposes:To this a garland interwove with roses,To that a carved hook or well-wrought scrip,Gracing another with her cherry lip;To one her garter, to another thenA handkerchief cast o'er and o'er again;And none returneth empty that hath spentHis pains to fill their rural merriment.
Words in this poem
- arbour n.
- A kind of latticework formed of, or covered with, vines, branches of trees, or other plants, for shade; a bower. Sir P. [OE. herber, herbere, properly a garden of herbs, F. herbier, fr. L. herbarium. See Herb, and cf. Herbarium.]
- jocund
- Merry; cheerful; gay; airy; lively; sportive. [L. jocundus, jucundus, orig., helpful, fr. juvare to help. See Aid.]
- envious a.
- Malignant; mischievous; spiteful. [OF. envios, F. envieux, fr. L. invidiosus, fr. invidia envy. See Envy, and cf. Invidious.]
- scrip n.
- A small bag; a wallet; a satchel. [OE. scrippe, probably of Scand. origin; cf. Icel. & OSw. skreppa, and also LL. scrippum, OF. esquerpe, escrepe, F. écharpe scarf. Cf. Scarp, Scarf a piece of dr]
- garter n.
- A band used to prevent a stocking from slipping down on the leg. [OE. gartier, F. jarretière, fr. OF. garet bend of the knee, F. jarret; akin to Sp. garra claw, Prov. garra leg. See Garrote.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
May Day Customs is in the public domain. This text is taken from Pastoral Poems by Nicholas Breton, Selected Poetry by George Wither, and Pastoral Poetry by William Browne (of Tavistock), Project Gutenberg ebook #22001; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Nicholas Breton, May Day Customs, in Pastoral Poems and Selected Poetry (1597–1604), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22001, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/breton-poems/may-day-customs.html, id L08852.
Form and metre
May Day Customs is 14 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 86% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 36% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 AABB--CCDDEEFF mayA · holidayA · swainsB · strainsB · gone · one · disposesC · rosesC · scripD · lipD · thenE · againE · spentF · merrimentF
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I have seen the Lady of the May | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Set in an arbour, on a holiday, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Built by the May-pole, where the jocund swains | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Dance with the maidens to the bagpipe's strains, | 10 | ···/˘··/·· |
| When envious night commands them to be gone | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| Call for the merry youngsters one by one, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And for their well performance soon disposes: | 11 | ····˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| To this a garland interwove with roses, | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| To that a carved hook or well-wrought scrip, | 10 | ····˘····· |
| Gracing another with her cherry lip; | 10 | /˘˘/˘··/˘· |
| To one her garter, to another then | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| A handkerchief cast o'er and o'er again; | 10 | ·/˘˘····˘/ |
| And none returneth empty that hath spent | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| His pains to fill their rural merriment. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
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.