The Seasons
The year hath first his jocund spring,Wherein the leaves, to birds' sweet carolling,Dance with the wind; then sees the summer's dayPerfect the embryon blossom of each spray;Next cometh autumn, when the threshed sheafLoseth his grain, and every tree his leaf;Lastly, cold winter's rage, with many a storm,Threats the proud pines which Ida's top adorn,And makes the sap leave succourless the shoot,Shrinking to comfort his decaying root.
Words in this poem
- jocund
- Merry; cheerful; gay; airy; lively; sportive. [L. jocundus, jucundus, orig., helpful, fr. juvare to help. See Aid.]
- lastly adv.
- In the last place; in conclusion.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Seasons 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, The Seasons, in Pastoral Poems and Selected Poetry (1597–1604), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22001, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/breton-poems/the-seasons.html, id L08851.
Form and metre
The Seasons is 10 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 80% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 86% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 20% 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 AABBCC--DD springA · carollingA · dayB · sprayB · sheafC · leafC · storm · adorn · shootD · rootD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The year hath first his jocund spring, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Wherein the leaves, to birds' sweet carolling, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Dance with the wind; then sees the summer's day | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Perfect the embryon blossom of each spray; | 11 | /··/˘˘/˘··· |
| Next cometh autumn, when the threshed sheaf | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘· |
| Loseth his grain, and every tree his leaf; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Lastly, cold winter's rage, with many a storm, | 10 | /˘·/˘··/·· |
| Threats the proud pines which Ida's top adorn, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| And makes the sap leave succourless the shoot, | 10 | ·········· |
| Shrinking to comfort his decaying root. | 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.