Last Week of February, 1890
Hark to the merry birds, hark how they sing!Although 'tis not yet springAnd keen the air;Hale Winter, half resigning ere he go,Doth to his heiress shewHis kingdom fair.
In patient russet is his forest spread,All bright with bramble red,With beechen mossAnd holly sheen: the oak silver and starkSunneth his aged barkAnd wrinkled boss.
But neath the ruin of the withered brakePrimroses now awakeFrom nursing shades:The crumpled carpet of the dry leaves brownAvails not to keep downThe hyacinth blades.
The hazel hath put forth his tassels ruffed;The willow's flossy tuftHath slipped him free:The rose amid her ransacked orange hipsBraggeth the tender tipsOf bowers to be.
A black rook stirs the branches here and there,Foraging to repairHis broken home:And hark, on the ash-boughs! Never thrush did singLouder in praise of spring,When spring is come.
Words in this poem
- heiress
- , A female heir.
- shew n.
- Show. [Obs. except in shewbread.]
- bramble n.
- Any plant of the genus Rubus, including the raspberry and blackberry. Hence: Any rough, prickly shrub. [OE. brembil, AS.brbramal), fr. the same root as E. broom, As. br. See Broom.]
- beechen a.
- Consisting, or made, of the wood or bark of the beech; belonging to the beech. [AS. b.]
- sheen v. i.
- To shine; to glisten.
- stark adv.
- Wholly; entirely; absolutely; quite; as, stark mind.
- flossy a.
- Pertaining to, made of, or resembling, floss; hence, light; downy.
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- rook n.
- Mist; fog. See Roke.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Last Week of February, 1890 is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Robert Bridges, Excluding the Eight Dramas, Project Gutenberg ebook #37804; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Robert Bridges, Last Week of February, 1890, in Poetical Works (1873–1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #37804, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bridges-shorter-poems/last-week-of-february-1890.html, id L01770.
Form and metre
Last Week of February, 1890 is 30 lines in 5 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABCCB, complete in 3 of its 5 stanzas. 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.7 syllables. 47% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 AAB--B singA · springA · airB · go · shew · fairB
- 2 AABCCB spreadA · redA · mossB · starkC · barkC · bossB
- 3 AABCCB brakeA · awakeA · shadesB · brownC · downC · bladesB
- 4 --ABBA ruffed · tuft · freeA · hipsB · tipsB · beA
- 5 AABCCB thereA · repairA · homeB · singC · springC · comeB
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Hark to the merry birds, hark how they sing! | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Although 'tis not yet spring | 6 | ······ |
| And keen the air; | 4 | ···· |
| Hale Winter, half resigning ere he go, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| Doth to his heiress shew | 6 | ···/˘· |
| His kingdom fair. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| In patient russet is his forest spread, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| All bright with bramble red, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| With beechen moss | 4 | ·/˘· |
| And holly sheen: the oak silver and stark | 10 | ·/˘···/˘·· |
| Sunneth his aged bark | 5 | /˘··· |
| And wrinkled boss. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| But neath the ruin of the withered brake | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Primroses now awake | 6 | /·˘·˘/ |
| From nursing shades: | 4 | ·/˘· |
| The crumpled carpet of the dry leaves brown | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Avails not to keep down | 6 | ˘/···· |
| The hyacinth blades. | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| The hazel hath put forth his tassels ruffed; | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| The willow's flossy tuft | 6 | ·/·/˘· |
| Hath slipped him free: | 4 | ···· |
| The rose amid her ransacked orange hips | 10 | ··˘/·/·/˘· |
| Braggeth the tender tips | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| Of bowers to be. | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| A black rook stirs the branches here and there, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Foraging to repair | 6 | /˘˘·˘/ |
| His broken home: | 4 | ·/˘· |
| And hark, on the ash-boughs! Never thrush did sing | 10 | ······/··· |
| Louder in praise of spring, | 6 | /˘···· |
| When spring is come. | 4 | ···· |
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.