A Niëllo III
I would not die when Springtime liftsThe white world to her maiden mouth,And heaps its cradle with gay gifts,Breeze-blown from out the singing South:Too full of life and loves that cling;Too heedless of all mortal woe,The young, unsympathetic Spring,That Death should never know.
I would not die when Summer shakesHer daisied locks below her hips,And naked as a star that takesA cloud, into the silence slips:Too rich is Summer; poor in needs;In egotism of lovelinessHer pomp goes by, and never heedsOne life the more or less.
But I would die when Autumn goes,The dark rain dripping from her hair,Through forests where the wild wind blowsDeath and the red wreck everywhere:Sweet as love's last farewells and tearsTo fall asleep when skies are gray,In the old autumn of my years,Like a dead leaf borne far away.
Words in this poem
- springtime n.
- The season of spring; springtide.
- daisied a.
- Full of daisies; adorned with daisies.
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- loveliness n.
- The state or quality of being lovely. [From Lovely.]
- dripping n.
- A falling in drops, or the sound so made.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Niëllo III is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #7796; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Madison Julius Cawein, A Niëllo III, in Poems (1911), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cawein-poems/a-ni-llo-iii.html, id L10842.
Form and metre
A Niëllo III is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCDCD. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.9 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 29% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABABCDCD liftsA · mouthB · giftsA · southB · clingC · woeD · springC · knowD
- 2 ABABCDCD shakesA · hipsB · takesA · slipsB · needsC · lovelinessD · heedsC · lessD
- 3 ABABCDCD goesA · hairB · blowsA · everywhereB · tearsC · grayD · yearsC · awayD
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 would not die when Springtime lifts | 8 | ·····/·· |
| The white world to her maiden mouth, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And heaps its cradle with gay gifts, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Breeze-blown from out the singing South: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Too full of life and loves that cling; | 8 | ········ |
| Too heedless of all mortal woe, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The young, unsympathetic Spring, | 8 | ··˘·˘/˘· |
| That Death should never know. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I would not die when Summer shakes | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Her daisied locks below her hips, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And naked as a star that takes | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A cloud, into the silence slips: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Too rich is Summer; poor in needs; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| In egotism of loveliness | 9 | ·/˘·˘·/˘˘ |
| Her pomp goes by, and never heeds | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| One life the more or less. | 6 | ······ |
| But I would die when Autumn goes, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The dark rain dripping from her hair, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Through forests where the wild wind blows | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Death and the red wreck everywhere: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Sweet as love's last farewells and tears | 8 | ·····/·· |
| To fall asleep when skies are gray, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| In the old autumn of my years, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Like a dead leaf borne far away. | 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.