The Wind of Spring
The wind that breathes of columbinesAnd celandines that crowd the rocks;That shakes the balsam of the pinesWith laughter from his airy locks,Stops at my city door and knocks.
He calls me far a-forest, whereThe twin-leaf and the blood-root bloom;And, circled by the amber air,Life sits with beauty and perfumeWeaving the new web of her loom.
He calls me where the waters runThrough fronding ferns where wades the hern;And, sparkling in the equal sun,Song leans above her brimming urn,And dreams the dreams that love shall learn.
The wind has summoned, and I go:To read God's meaning in each lineThe wildflowers write; and, walking slow,God's purpose, of which song is sign,--The wind's great, gusty hand in mine.
Words in this poem
- circled a.
- Having the form of a circle; round.
- hern n.
- A heron; esp., the common European heron.
- brimming a.
- Full to the brim; overflowing.
- 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,]
- gusty a.
- Subject to, or characterized by, gusts or squalls; windy; stormy; tempestuous.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Wind of 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 Wind of Spring, in Poems (1911), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cawein-poems/the-wind-of-spring.html, id L10869.
Form and metre
The Wind of Spring is 20 lines in 4 stanzas of 5 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 30% 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 columbinesA · rocksB · pinesA · locksB · knocksB
- 2 ABABB whereA · bloomB · airA · perfumeB · loomB
- 3 ABABB runA · hernB · sunA · urnB · learnB
- 4 ABABB goA · lineB · slowA · signB · mineB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The wind that breathes of columbines | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And celandines that crowd the rocks; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| That shakes the balsam of the pines | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| With laughter from his airy locks, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Stops at my city door and knocks. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| He calls me far a-forest, where | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The twin-leaf and the blood-root bloom; | 8 | ········ |
| And, circled by the amber air, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Life sits with beauty and perfume | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Weaving the new web of her loom. | 8 | /˘······ |
| He calls me where the waters run | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Through fronding ferns where wades the hern; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And, sparkling in the equal sun, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Song leans above her brimming urn, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And dreams the dreams that love shall learn. | 8 | ········ |
| The wind has summoned, and I go: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To read God's meaning in each line | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The wildflowers write; and, walking slow, | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| God's purpose, of which song is sign,-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The wind's great, gusty hand in mine. | 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.