O Maytime Woods!
O Maytime woods! O Maytime lanes and hours!And stars, that knew how often there at nightBeside the path, where woodbine odors blewBetween the drowsy eyelids of the dusk,--When, like a great, white, pearly moth, the moonHung silvering long windows of your room,--I stood among the shrubs! The dark house slept.I watched and waited for--I know not what!--Some tremor of your gown: a velvet leaf'sUnfolding to caresses of the Spring:The rustle of your footsteps: or the dewSyllabling avowal on a tulip's lipsOf odorous scarlet: or the whispered wordOf something lovelier than new leaf or rose--The word young lips half murmur in a dream:
Serene with sleep, light visions weigh her eyes:And underneath her window blooms a quince.The night is a sultana who doth riseIn slippered caution, to admit a prince,Love, who her eunuchs and her lord defies.
Are these her dreams? or is it that the breezePelts me with petals of the quince, and liftsThe Balm-o'-Gilead buds? and seems to squeezeAroma on aroma through sweet riftsOf Eden, dripping through the rainy trees.
Along the path the buckeye trees beginTo heap their hills of blossoms.--Oh, that theyWere Romeo ladders, whereby I might winHer chamber's sanctity!--where dreams must prayAbout her soul!--That I might enter in!--
A dream,--and see the balsam scent eraseIts dim intrusion; and the starry nightConclude majestic pomp; the virgin graceOf every bud abashed before the white,Pure passion-flower of her sleeping face.
Words in this poem
- rustle v. i.
- To make a quick succession of small sounds, like the rubbing or moving of silk cloth or dry leaves. [AS. hristlan to rustle; or cf. Sw. rusta to stir, make a riot, or E. rush, v.]
- sultana n.
- The wife of a sultan; a sultaness. [It.]
- slippered a.
- Wearing slippers.
- eden n.
- The garden where Adam and Eve first dwelt; hence, a delightful region or residence. [Heb. eden delight, pleasure; also, a place of pleasure, Eden.]
- dripping n.
- A falling in drops, or the sound so made.
- buckeye n.
- A name given to several American trees and shrubs of the same genus (Æsculus) as the horse chestnut. The Ohio buckeye, or Fetid buckeye, is Æsculus glabra.
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- conclude v. t.
- To shut up; to inclose. [L. concludere, conclusum; con- + claudere to shut. See Close, v. t.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
O Maytime Woods! 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, O Maytime Woods!, in Poems (1911), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cawein-poems/o-maytime-woods.html, id L10838.
Form and metre
O Maytime Woods! is 35 lines in 5 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABABA, complete in 4 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 54% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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---- hours · night · blewA · dusk · moon · room · slept · what · leaf's · spring · dewA · lips · word · rose · dream
- 2 ABABA eyesA · quinceB · riseA · princeB · defiesA
- 3 ABABA breezeA · liftsB · squeezeA · riftsB · treesA
- 4 ABABA beginA · theyB · winA · prayB · inA
- 5 ABABA eraseA · nightB · graceA · whiteB · faceA
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| O Maytime woods! O Maytime lanes and hours! | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| And stars, that knew how often there at night | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Beside the path, where woodbine odors blew | 10 | ˘/···/˘/˘· |
| Between the drowsy eyelids of the dusk,-- | 10 | ···/˘/···· |
| When, like a great, white, pearly moth, the moon | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Hung silvering long windows of your room,-- | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘··· |
| I stood among the shrubs! The dark house slept. | 10 | ·········· |
| I watched and waited for--I know not what!-- | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Some tremor of your gown: a velvet leaf's | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Unfolding to caresses of the Spring: | 10 | ˘/˘·˘/˘··· |
| The rustle of your footsteps: or the dew | 10 | ·/˘··/···· |
| Syllabling avowal on a tulip's lips | 10 | /˘˘/˘··/˘· |
| Of odorous scarlet: or the whispered word | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Of something lovelier than new leaf or rose-- | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| The word young lips half murmur in a dream: | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Serene with sleep, light visions weigh her eyes: | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| And underneath her window blooms a quince. | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| The night is a sultana who doth rise | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| In slippered caution, to admit a prince, | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/·· |
| Love, who her eunuchs and her lord defies. | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Are these her dreams? or is it that the breeze | 10 | ·········· |
| Pelts me with petals of the quince, and lifts | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The Balm-o'-Gilead buds? and seems to squeeze | 10 | ···˘/····· |
| Aroma on aroma through sweet rifts | 10 | ˘/˘·˘/˘··· |
| Of Eden, dripping through the rainy trees. | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Along the path the buckeye trees begin | 10 | ˘/···/··˘/ |
| To heap their hills of blossoms.--Oh, that they | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Were Romeo ladders, whereby I might win | 11 | ·/˘·/˘····· |
| Her chamber's sanctity!--where dreams must pray | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘···· |
| About her soul!--That I might enter in!-- | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| A dream,--and see the balsam scent erase | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Its dim intrusion; and the starry night | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Conclude majestic pomp; the virgin grace | 10 | ˘/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Of every bud abashed before the white, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| Pure passion-flower of her sleeping face. | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
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.