March

Robert Bridges (1844–1930) · 1873–1912

iambic pentameter · rhyming couplets · 4 lines · from Poetical Works

ED. Now carol the birds at dawn, and some new layAnnounceth a homecome voyager every day.Beneath the tufted sallows the streamlet thrillsWith the leaping trout and the gleam of the daffodils.

Words in this poem

carol v. t.
To praise or celebrate in song.
voyager n.
One who voyages; one who sails or passes by sea or water. [Cf. F. voyager traveling.]
streamlet n.
A small stream; a rivulet; a rill.

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

March 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, March, in Poetical Works (1873–1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #37804, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bridges-shorter-poems/march-2.html, id L01790.

Form and metre

March is 4 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets. The lines average 12.0 syllables.

See other poems in rhyming couplets.

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. 1 AABB layA · dayA · thrillsB · daffodilsB
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.

LineSyl.Stress
ED. Now carol the birds at dawn, and some new lay12··/˘········
Announceth a homecome voyager every day.12˘/˘····/˘/˘·
Beneath the tufted sallows the streamlet thrills11···/˘···/˘·
With the leaping trout and the gleam of the daffodils.13··/˘······/˘·

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.

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