Apple-Blossoms
Underneath an apple-treeSat a maiden and her lover;And the thoughts within her heYearned, in silence, to discover.Round them danced the sunbeams bright,Green the grass-lawn stretched before them;While the apple-blossoms whiteHung in rich profusion o'er them.
Naught within her eyes he readThat would tell her mind unto him;Though their light, he after said,Quivered swiftly through and through him;Till at last his heart burst freeFrom the prayer with which 'twas laden,And he said, "When wilt thou beMine for evermore, fair maiden?"
"When," said she, "the breeze of MayWith white flakes our heads shall cover,I will be thy brideling gay--Thou shall be my husband-lover.""How," said he, in sorrow bowed,"Can I hope such hopeful weather?Breeze of May and Winter's cloudDo not often fly together."
Quickly as the words he said,From the west a wind came sighing,And on each uncovered headSent the apple-blossoms flying;"'Flakes of white!' thou'rt mine," said he,"Sooner than thy wish or knowing!""Nay, I heard the breeze," quoth she,"When in yonder forest blowing."
Words in this poem
- discover v. i.
- To discover or show one's self.
- quivered a.
- Furnished with, or carrying, a quiver.
- evermore adv.
- During eternity; always; forever; for an indefinite period; at all times; -- often used substantively with for.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- hopeful a.
- Full of hope, or agreeable expectation; inclined to hope; expectant.
- quoth v. t.
- Said; spoke; uttered; -- used only in the first and third persons in the past tenses, and always followed by its nominative, the word or words said being the object; as, quoth I. quoth he. [AS.cweedhan, imp cwæedh, pl. cwædon; akin to OS. queedhan, OHG. quethan, quedan, Icel. kveedha, Goth. qiþan. sq. root22. Cf. Bequeath.]
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Apple-Blossoms is in the public domain. This text is taken from Farm Ballads, Project Gutenberg ebook #9500; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Will Carleton, Apple-Blossoms, in Farm Ballads (1873), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9500, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/carleton-farm-ballads/apple-blossoms.html, id L23283.
Form and metre
Apple-Blossoms is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCDCD. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in trochaic 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 ABABCDCD treeA · loverB · heA · discoverB · brightC · themD · whiteC · themD
- 2 ABABCDCD readA · himB · saidA · himB · freeC · ladenD · beC · maidenD
- 3 ABABCDCD mayA · coverB · gayA · loverB · bowedC · weatherD · cloudC · togetherD
- 4 ABABCDCD saidA · sighingB · headA · flyingB · heC · knowingD · sheC · blowingD
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Underneath an apple-tree | 7 | ·˘/·/˘· |
| Sat a maiden and her lover; | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| And the thoughts within her he | 7 | ······· |
| Yearned, in silence, to discover. | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| Round them danced the sunbeams bright, | 8 | ···˘·/·· |
| Green the grass-lawn stretched before them; | 8 | ········ |
| While the apple-blossoms white | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Hung in rich profusion o'er them. | 8 | ···˘/˘·· |
| Naught within her eyes he read | 7 | ······· |
| That would tell her mind unto him; | 8 | ········ |
| Though their light, he after said, | 7 | ······· |
| Quivered swiftly through and through him; | 8 | /˘/˘···· |
| Till at last his heart burst free | 7 | ······· |
| From the prayer with which 'twas laden, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And he said, "When wilt thou be | 7 | ······· |
| Mine for evermore, fair maiden?" | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| "When," said she, "the breeze of May | 7 | ······· |
| With white flakes our heads shall cover, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| I will be thy brideling gay-- | 8 | ········ |
| Thou shall be my husband-lover." | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| "How," said he, in sorrow bowed, | 8 | ····/˘·˘ |
| "Can I hope such hopeful weather? | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Breeze of May and Winter's cloud | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Do not often fly together." | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| Quickly as the words he said, | 7 | /˘····· |
| From the west a wind came sighing, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And on each uncovered head | 8 | ···˘/˘˘· |
| Sent the apple-blossoms flying; | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| "'Flakes of white!' thou'rt mine," said he, | 7 | ······· |
| "Sooner than thy wish or knowing!" | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| "Nay, I heard the breeze," quoth she, | 7 | ······· |
| "When in yonder forest blowing." | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
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.