The Miracle
Come, sweetheart, listen, for I have a thingMost wonderful to tell you--news of spring.
Albeit winter still is in the air,And the earth troubled, and the branches bare,
Yet down the fields to-day I saw her pass--The spring--her feet went shining through the grass.
She touched the ragged hedgerows--I have seenHer finger-prints, most delicately green;
And she has whispered to the crocus leaves,And to the garrulous sparrows in the eaves.
Swiftly she passed and shyly, and her fairYoung face was hidden in her cloudy hair.
She would not stay, her season is not yet,But she has reawakened, and has set
The sap of all the world astir, and rentOnce more the shadows of our discontent.
Triumphant news--a miracle I sing--The everlasting miracle of spring.
Words in this poem
- albeit conj.
- Even though; although; notwithstanding. [OE. al be although it be, where al is our all. Cf. Although.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- garrulous a.
- Talking much, especially about commonplace or trivial things; talkative; loquacious. [L. garrulus, fr. garrire to chatter, talk; cf. Gr. Call.]
- shyly adv.
- In a shy or timid manner; not familiarly; with reserve.
- astir adv.
- Stirring; in a state of activity or motion; out of bed. [Pref. a- + stir.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Miracle 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, The Miracle, in Poems, 1908-1919 (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51575, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drinkwater-poems/the-miracle.html, id L23091.
Form and metre
The Miracle is 18 lines in 9 stanzas of 2 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 AA thingA · springA
- 2 AA airA · bareA
- 3 AA passA · grassA
- 4 AA seenA · greenA
- 5 AA leavesA · eavesA
- 6 AA fairA · hairA
- 7 AA yetA · setA
- 8 AA rentA · discontentA
- 9 AA singA · springA
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Come, sweetheart, listen, for I have a thing | 10 | ·/·/˘····· |
| Most wonderful to tell you--news of spring. | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| Albeit winter still is in the air, | 10 | ˘/˘/˘····· |
| And the earth troubled, and the branches bare, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Yet down the fields to-day I saw her pass-- | 10 | ·········· |
| The spring--her feet went shining through the grass. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| She touched the ragged hedgerows--I have seen | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| Her finger-prints, most delicately green; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘˘· |
| And she has whispered to the crocus leaves, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And to the garrulous sparrows in the eaves. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Swiftly she passed and shyly, and her fair | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Young face was hidden in her cloudy hair. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| She would not stay, her season is not yet, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| But she has reawakened, and has set | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| The sap of all the world astir, and rent | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Once more the shadows of our discontent. | 10 | ···/··/˘˘/ |
| Triumphant news--a miracle I sing-- | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘˘·· |
| The everlasting miracle of spring. | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘˘·· |
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.