May and Death
I wish that when you died last May,Charles, there had died along with youThree parts of spring's delightful things;Aye, and, for me, the fourth part, too.
A foolish thought, and worse, perhaps!There must be many a pair of friendsWho, arm in arm, deserve the warmMoon-births and the long evening-ends.
So, for their sake, be May still May!Let their new time, as mine of old,Do all it did for me: I bidSweet sights and sounds throng manifold.
Only, one little sight, one plant,Woods have in May, that starts up greenSave a sole streak which, so to speak,Is spring's blood, spilt its leaves between--
That, they might spare; a certain woodMight miss the plant; their loss were small:But I--whene'er the leaf grows there,Its drop comes from my heart, that's all.
About this text
May and Death is in the public domain. This text is taken from Selections from the Poems and Plays of Robert Browning, Project Gutenberg ebook #28041; 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 Browning, May and Death, in Selections from the Poems and Plays of Robert Browning (1864), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #28041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/browning-selections/may-and-death.html, id L25114.
Form and metre
May and Death is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
See 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 -A-A may · youA · things · tooA
- 2 -A-A perhaps · friendsA · warm · endsA
- 3 -A-A may · oldA · bid · manifoldA
- 4 -A-A plant · greenA · speak · betweenA
- 5 -A-A wood · smallA · there · allA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I wish that when you died last May, | 8 | ········ |
| Charles, there had died along with you | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Three parts of spring's delightful things; | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Aye, and, for me, the fourth part, too. | 8 | ········ |
| A foolish thought, and worse, perhaps! | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| There must be many a pair of friends | 8 | ···/···· |
| Who, arm in arm, deserve the warm | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Moon-births and the long evening-ends. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| So, for their sake, be May still May! | 8 | ········ |
| Let their new time, as mine of old, | 8 | ········ |
| Do all it did for me: I bid | 8 | ········ |
| Sweet sights and sounds throng manifold. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Only, one little sight, one plant, | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Woods have in May, that starts up green | 8 | ········ |
| Save a sole streak which, so to speak, | 8 | ········ |
| Is spring's blood, spilt its leaves between-- | 8 | ········ |
| That, they might spare; a certain wood | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Might miss the plant; their loss were small: | 8 | ········ |
| But I--whene'er the leaf grows there, | 9 | ········· |
| Its drop comes from my heart, that's all. | 8 | ········ |
On this poem
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.