The Old Spring
Under rocks whereon the roseLike a streak of morning glows;Where the azure-throated newtDrowses on the twisted root;And the brown bees, humming homeward,Stop to suck the honeydew;Fern- and leaf-hid, gleaming gloamward,Drips the wildwood spring I knew,Drips the spring my boyhood knew.
Myrrh and music everywhereHaunt its cascades--like the hairThat a Naiad tosses cool,Swimming strangely beautiful,With white fragrance for her bosom,And her mouth a breath of song--Under leaf and branch and blossomFlows the woodland spring along,Sparkling, singing flows along.
Still the wet wan mornings touchIts gray rocks, perhaps; and suchSlender stars as dusk may havePierce the rose that roofs its wave;Still the thrush may call at noontideAnd the whippoorwill at night;Nevermore, by sun or moontide,Shall I see it gliding white,Falling, flowing, wild and white.
Words in this poem
- whereon adv.
- On which; -- used relatively; as, the earth whereon we live.
- homeward a.
- Being in the direction of home; as, the homeward way.
- wildwood n.
- A wild or unfrequented wood. Also used adjectively; as, wildwood flowers; wildwood echoes. Burns.
- boyhood n.
- The state of being a boy; the time during which one is a boy. [Boy + -hood.]
- naiad n.
- A water nymph; one of the lower female divinities, fabled to preside over some body of fresh water, as a lake, river, brook, or fountain. [L. naias, -adis, naïs, -idis, a water nymph, Gr naïade. Cf. Naid.]
- strangely adv.
- As something foreign, or not one's own; in a manner adapted to something foreign and strange.
- noontide n.
- The time of noon; midday. [From noon + tide time; cf. AS. n the ninth hour.]
- nevermore adv.
- Never again; at no time hereafter. Testament of Love. Tyndale.
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Old Spring 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, The Old Spring, in Poems (1911), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cawein-poems/the-old-spring.html, id L10851.
Form and metre
The Old Spring is 27 lines in 3 stanzas of 9 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABBCDCDD, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 33% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 AABBCDCDD roseA · glowsA · newtB · rootB · homewardC · honeydewD · gloamwardC · knewD · knewD
- 2 AABB-C-CC everywhereA · hairA · coolB · beautifulB · bosom · songC · blossom · alongC · alongC
- 3 AABBCDCDD touchA · suchA · haveB · waveB · noontideC · nightD · moontideC · whiteD · whiteD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Under rocks whereon the rose | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Like a streak of morning glows; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Where the azure-throated newt | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Drowses on the twisted root; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And the brown bees, humming homeward, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Stop to suck the honeydew; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Fern- and leaf-hid, gleaming gloamward, | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Drips the wildwood spring I knew, | 7 | ··/···· |
| Drips the spring my boyhood knew. | 7 | ····/·· |
| Myrrh and music everywhere | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Haunt its cascades--like the hair | 7 | ··˘/··· |
| That a Naiad tosses cool, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Swimming strangely beautiful, | 7 | /˘/˘/˘˘ |
| With white fragrance for her bosom, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| And her mouth a breath of song-- | 7 | ······· |
| Under leaf and branch and blossom | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Flows the woodland spring along, | 7 | ··/··˘/ |
| Sparkling, singing flows along. | 7 | /˘/˘·˘/ |
| Still the wet wan mornings touch | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Its gray rocks, perhaps; and such | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Slender stars as dusk may have | 7 | /˘····· |
| Pierce the rose that roofs its wave; | 7 | ······· |
| Still the thrush may call at noontide | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And the whippoorwill at night; | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Nevermore, by sun or moontide, | 8 | /˘······ |
| Shall I see it gliding white, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Falling, flowing, wild and white. | 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.