Spring on the Hills
Ah, shall I follow, on the hills,The Spring, as wild wings follow?Where wild-plum trees make wan the hills,Crabapple trees the hollow,Haunts of the bee and swallow?
In redbud brakes and floweryAcclivities of berry;In dogwood dingles, showeryWith white, where wrens make merry?Or drifts of swarming cherry?
In valleys of wild strawberries,And of the clumped May-apple;Or cloudlike trees of haw-berries,With which the south winds grapple,That brook and byway dapple?
With eyes of far forgetfulness,--Like some wild wood-thing's daughter,Whose feet are beelike fretfulness,--To see her run like waterThrough boughs that slipped or caught her.
O Spring, to seek, yet find you not!To search, yet never win you!To glimpse, to touch, but bind you not!To lose, and still continue,All sweet evasion in you!
In pearly, peach-blush distancesYou gleam; the woods are braidedOf myths; of dream-existences....There, where the brook is shaded,A sudden splendor faded.
O presence, like the primrose's,Again I feel your power!With rainy scents of dim roses,Like some elusive flower,Who led me for an hour!
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- redbud n.
- A small ornamental leguminous tree of the American species of the genus Cercis. See Judas tree, under Judas.
- showery a.
- Raining in showers; abounding with frequent showers of rain.
- byway n.
- A secluded, private, or obscure way; a path or road aside from the main one.
- dapple n.
- One of the spots on a dappled animal. [Cf. Icel. depill a spot, a dot, a dog with spots over the eyes, dapi a pool, and E. dimple.]
- elusive a.
- Tending to elude; using arts or deception to escape; adroitly escaping or evading; eluding the grasp; fallacious.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Spring on the Hills 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, Spring on the Hills, in Poems (1911), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cawein-poems/spring-on-the-hills.html, id L10853.
Form and metre
Spring on the Hills is 35 lines in 7 stanzas of 5 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABB, complete in 5 of its 7 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.4 syllables. 27 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 14% 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 ABABB hillsA · followB · hillsA · hollowB · swallowB
- 2 ABABB floweryA · berryB · showeryA · merryB · cherryB
- 3 ABABB strawberriesA · appleB · berriesA · grappleB · dappleB
- 4 ABAB- forgetfulnessA · daughterB · fretfulnessA · waterB · her
- 5 ABA-B notA · youB · notA · continue · youB
- 6 ABABB distancesA · braidedB · existencesA · shadedB · fadedB
- 7 ABABB primrose'sA · powerB · rosesA · flowerB · hourB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ah, shall I follow, on the hills, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The Spring, as wild wings follow? | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Where wild-plum trees make wan the hills, | 8 | ········ |
| Crabapple trees the hollow, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Haunts of the bee and swallow? | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| In redbud brakes and flowery | 8 | ·/···/˘˘ |
| Acclivities of berry; | 6 | ····/˘ |
| In dogwood dingles, showery | 8 | ·/·/˘/˘˘ |
| With white, where wrens make merry? | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Or drifts of swarming cherry? | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| In valleys of wild strawberries, | 8 | ·/˘··/·˘ |
| And of the clumped May-apple; | 8 | ····˘·/˘ |
| Or cloudlike trees of haw-berries, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| With which the south winds grapple, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| That brook and byway dapple? | 7 | ···/·/˘ |
| With eyes of far forgetfulness,-- | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| Like some wild wood-thing's daughter, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Whose feet are beelike fretfulness,-- | 8 | ········ |
| To see her run like water | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Through boughs that slipped or caught her. | 8 | ····˘··· |
| O Spring, to seek, yet find you not! | 8 | ········ |
| To search, yet never win you! | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| To glimpse, to touch, but bind you not! | 8 | ········ |
| To lose, and still continue, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| All sweet evasion in you! | 7 | ··˘/˘·· |
| In pearly, peach-blush distances | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| You gleam; the woods are braided | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Of myths; of dream-existences.... | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| There, where the brook is shaded, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| A sudden splendor faded. | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| O presence, like the primrose's, | 8 | ·/˘··/·˘ |
| Again I feel your power! | 7 | ˘/···/˘ |
| With rainy scents of dim roses, | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| Like some elusive flower, | 7 | ··˘/˘/˘ |
| Who led me for an hour! | 7 | ·····/˘ |
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.