Buds
The raining hour is done,And, threaded on the bough,The May-buds in the sunAre shining emeralds now.
As transitory theseAs things of April will,Yet, trembling in the trees,Is briefer beauty still.
For, flowering from the skyUpon an April day,Are silver buds that lieAmid the buds of May.
The April emeralds now,While thrushes fill the lane,Are linked along the boughWith silver buds of rain.
And, straightly though to earthThe buds of silver slip,The green buds keep the mirthOf that companionship.
Words in this poem
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- straightly adv.
- In a right line; not crookedly.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Buds is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, 1908-1919, Project Gutenberg ebook #51575; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Drinkwater, Buds, in Poems, 1908-1919 (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51575, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drinkwater-poems/buds.html, id L23112.
Form and metre
Buds is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
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 ABAB doneA · boughB · sunA · nowB
- 2 ABAB theseA · willB · treesA · stillB
- 3 ABAB skyA · dayB · lieA · mayB
- 4 ABAB nowA · laneB · boughA · rainB
- 5 ABAB earthA · slipB · mirthA · companionshipB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The raining hour is done, | 6 | ·/˘/·· |
| And, threaded on the bough, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The May-buds in the sun | 6 | ······ |
| Are shining emeralds now. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| As transitory these | 6 | ·/˘·˘· |
| As things of April will, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Yet, trembling in the trees, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Is briefer beauty still. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| For, flowering from the sky | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Upon an April day, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Are silver buds that lie | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Amid the buds of May. | 6 | ˘/···· |
| The April emeralds now, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| While thrushes fill the lane, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Are linked along the bough | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| With silver buds of rain. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And, straightly though to earth | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The buds of silver slip, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The green buds keep the mirth | 6 | ······ |
| Of that companionship. | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
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.