Spring Fever
Grass commence a-comin'Thoo de thawin' groun',Evah bird dat whistlesKeepin' noise erroun';Cain't sleep in de mo'nin',Case befo' it 's lightBluebird an' de robin,Done begun to fight.
Bluebird sass de robin,Robin sass him back,Den de bluebird scol' him'Twell his face is black.Would n' min' de quoilin'All de mo'nin' long,'Cept it wakes me early,Case hit 's done in song.
Anybody wo'kin'Wants to sleep ez lateEz de folks 'll 'low him,An' I wish to state(Co'se dis ain't to scattah,But 'twix' me an' you),I could stan' de bedclothes,Kin' o' latah, too.
'T ain't my natchul feelin',Dis hyeah mopin' spell.I stan's early risin'Mos'ly moughty well;But de ve'y minute,I feel Ap'il's heat,Bless yo' soul, de bedclothesNevah seemed so sweet.
Mastah, he's a-scol'in',Case de han's is slow,All de hosses balkin',Jes' cain't mek 'em go.Don' know whut's de mattah,Hit's a funny t'ing,Less'n hit 's de fevahDat you gits in spring.
Words in this poem
- bluebird n.
- A small song bird (Sialia sialis), very common in the United States, and, in the north, one of the earliest to arrive in spring.
- folks n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- bedclothes n.
- Blankets, sheets, coverlets, etc., for a bed.
- funny a.
- Droll; comical; amusing; laughable. Funny bone. See crazy bone, under Crazy. [From Fun.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Spring Fever is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar, Project Gutenberg ebook #18338; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Paul Laurence Dunbar, Spring Fever, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/spring-fever.html, id L00721.
Form and metre
Spring Fever is 40 lines in 5 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.5 syllables. 11 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 18% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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 AB-BAC-C cominA · grounB · whistles · errounB · mo'ninA · lightC · robin · fightC
- 2 -A-A-B-B robin · backA · him · blackA · quoilin · longB · early · songB
- 3 -A-A-B-B wo'kin · lateA · him · stateA · scattah · youB · bedclothes · tooB
- 4 -A-ABB-B feelin · spellA · risin · wellA · minuteB · heatB · bedclothes · sweetB
- 5 -A-ABCBC scol'in · slowA · balkin · goA · mattahB · t'ingC · fevahB · springC
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 trochaic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Grass commence a-comin' | 6 | ·˘/·/˘ |
| Thoo de thawin' groun', | 5 | ····· |
| Evah bird dat whistles | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Keepin' noise erroun'; | 5 | ····· |
| Cain't sleep in de mo'nin', | 6 | ······ |
| Case befo' it 's light | 6 | ······ |
| Bluebird an' de robin, | 6 | /···/˘ |
| Done begun to fight. | 5 | ·˘/·· |
| Bluebird sass de robin, | 6 | /···/˘ |
| Robin sass him back, | 5 | /˘··· |
| Den de bluebird scol' him | 6 | ··/··· |
| 'Twell his face is black. | 5 | ····· |
| Would n' min' de quoilin' | 6 | ······ |
| All de mo'nin' long, | 5 | ····· |
| 'Cept it wakes me early, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Case hit 's done in song. | 6 | ······ |
| Anybody wo'kin' | 6 | /˘˘˘·· |
| Wants to sleep ez late | 5 | ····· |
| Ez de folks 'll 'low him, | 6 | ······ |
| An' I wish to state | 5 | ····· |
| (Co'se dis ain't to scattah, | 6 | ······ |
| But 'twix' me an' you), | 5 | ····· |
| I could stan' de bedclothes, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Kin' o' latah, too. | 5 | ····· |
| 'T ain't my natchul feelin', | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Dis hyeah mopin' spell. | 5 | ····· |
| I stan's early risin' | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Mos'ly moughty well; | 5 | ····· |
| But de ve'y minute, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| I feel Ap'il's heat, | 5 | ····· |
| Bless yo' soul, de bedclothes | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Nevah seemed so sweet. | 5 | ····· |
| Mastah, he's a-scol'in', | 6 | ······ |
| Case de han's is slow, | 5 | ····· |
| All de hosses balkin', | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Jes' cain't mek 'em go. | 5 | ····· |
| Don' know whut's de mattah, | 6 | ······ |
| Hit's a funny t'ing, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Less'n hit 's de fevah | 6 | ······ |
| Dat you gits in spring. | 5 | ····· |
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.