On Reading Francis Ledwidge’s Last Songs
At April’s end, when blossoms breakTo birth upon my apple-tree,I know the certain year will takeFull harvest of this infancy.
At April’s end, when comes the dearOccasion of your valley tune,I know your beauty’s arc is here,A little ghostly morning moon.
Yet are these fosterlings of rhymeAs fortunately born to spendHappy conspiracies with timeAs apple flowers at April’s end.
Words in this poem
- ghostly a.
- Relating to the soul; not carnal or secular; spiritual; as, a ghostly confessor. [OE. gastlich, gostlich, AS. gastlic. See Ghost.]
- fortunately adv.
- In a fortunate manner; luckily; successfully; happily.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On Reading Francis Ledwidge’s Last Songs 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, On Reading Francis Ledwidge’s Last Songs, in Poems, 1908-1919 (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51575, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drinkwater-poems/on-reading-francis-ledwidge-s-last-songs.html, id L23085.
Form and metre
On Reading Francis Ledwidge’s Last Songs is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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 A-A- breakA · tree · takeA · infancy
- 2 ABAB dearA · tuneB · hereA · moonB
- 3 ABAB rhymeA · spendB · timeA · endB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| At April’s end, when blossoms break | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| To birth upon my apple-tree, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I know the certain year will take | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Full harvest of this infancy. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| At April’s end, when comes the dear | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Occasion of your valley tune, | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| I know your beauty’s arc is here, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A little ghostly morning moon. | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Yet are these fosterlings of rhyme | 8 | ········ |
| As fortunately born to spend | 8 | ·/˘˘˘··· |
| Happy conspiracies with time | 8 | /˘˘/˘˘·· |
| As apple flowers at April’s end. | 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.