Spring
Once when my life was young,I, too, with Spring's bright faceBy mine, walked softly along,Pace to his pace.
Then burned his crimson may,Like a clear flame outspread,Arching our happy way:Then would he shed
Strangely from his wild faceWonderful light on me--Like hounds that keen in chaseTheir quarry see.
Oh, sorrow now to knowWhat shafts, what keenness coldHis are to pierce me through,Now that I'm old.
Words in this poem
- outspread v. t.
- To spread out; to expand; -- usually as a past part. or adj.
- strangely adv.
- As something foreign, or not one's own; in a manner adapted to something foreign and strange.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Spring is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Listeners and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #22569; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Walter de la Mare, Spring, in The Listeners and Other Poems (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22569, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/de-la-mare-listeners/spring.html, id L17086.
Form and metre
Spring is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.6 syllables. 38% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 young · faceA · along · paceA
- 2 ABAB mayA · outspreadB · wayA · shedB
- 3 ABAB faceA · meB · chaseA · seeB
- 4 -A-A know · coldA · through · oldA
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Once when my life was young, | 6 | ······ |
| I, too, with Spring's bright face | 6 | ······ |
| By mine, walked softly along, | 7 | ···/˘˘/ |
| Pace to his pace. | 4 | ···· |
| Then burned his crimson may, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Like a clear flame outspread, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Arching our happy way: | 6 | /˘//˘· |
| Then would he shed | 4 | ···· |
| Strangely from his wild face | 6 | /˘···· |
| Wonderful light on me-- | 6 | /˘˘··· |
| Like hounds that keen in chase | 6 | ······ |
| Their quarry see. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Oh, sorrow now to know | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| What shafts, what keenness cold | 6 | ···/˘· |
| His are to pierce me through, | 6 | ······ |
| Now that I'm old. | 4 | ···· |
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.