April
Now April with sweet showers of freshening rainHas roused last summer's vigorous breath once more;'Tis in the air, the house, the street, the lane--Puffs through the walls and oozes through the floor.
The rau-cous-throated frog ayont the stySends forth, as erst, his amerous vermal croak,Each hungry mooly casts her swivel eyeFor pots and pails in which her nose to poke.
With gurgling glee the gutter gushes by,Fraught all with filth, unknown and nameless dirt--A dead green goose, an o'er-ripe rat I spy;Head of a cat, tail of a flannel shirt.
The querulous cry of every gabbling gooseFrom thousand-scented mudholes echoes o'er;The dogs and yawling cats have gotten looseAnd mock the hideous howls of hell once more.
By yon scrub oak, where roots the sallow sow,In where John Murphy's wife outpours her slop;Right there you'll find there's almost stench nowTo cause the world its nostrils to estop.
And yonder dauntless goat that bank adown,That wreathes his old fantastic horns so high,Gnaws sadly on the bustle of Miss Brown,Which she discarded in the months gone by.
So in Goose Island cometh April round;Full eagerly we watch the month's approach--The season of sweet sight and pleasant sound,The season of the bedbug and the roach.
Words in this poem
- croak v. i.
- To make a low, hoarse noise in the throat, as a frog, a raven, or a crow; hence, to make any hoarse, dismal sound. [From the primitive of AS. cracettan to croak as a raven; akin to G. kr to croak, and to E. creak, crake.]
- swivel n.
- A piece, as a ring or hook, attached to another piece by a pin, in such a manner as to permit rotation about the pin as an axis. [AS. swifan to move quickly, to remove; akin to Icel. sveifla to whirl, shake, svifa to ramble, to turn. See Swoop, and cf. Swift a reel, Swift, a.]
- glee n.
- Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
- fraught n.
- A freight; a cargo. [OE.fraight, fraght; akin to Dan. fragt, Sw. frakt, D. vracht, G. fracht, cf. OHG. fr merit, reward; perh. from corresponding to E. for + The root of E. own. Cf.]
- nameless a.
- Without a name; not having been given a name; as, a nameless star.
- querulous a.
- Given to quarreling; quarrelsome. land. [L. querulus and querulosus, fr. queri to complain. Cf. Cry, v., Quarrel a brawl, Quarrelous.]
- slop n.
- Any kind of outer garment made of linen or cotton, as a night dress, or a smock frock. Halliwell. [AS. slop a frock or over-garment, fr. sl to slip, to slide; akin to Icel sloppr a thin garment; cf. OHG. slouf a garment. Cf. Slip, v. i.]
- stench v. t.
- To stanch. Harvey.
- estop v. t.
- To impede or bar by estoppel. [OF. estoper to stop, plug, close, F. étouper, LL. stuppare to close with tow, obstruct, fr. L. stuppa tow, oakum, cf. Gr. Stop.]
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
- dauntless a.
- Incapable of being daunted; undaunted; bold; fearless; intrepid.
- adown adv.
- From a higher to a lower situation; downward; down, to or on the ground. [OE. adun, adoun, adune. AS. of dune off the hill. See Down.]
- sadly adv.
- Wearily; heavily; firmly.
- roach v. t.
- To cause to arch.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
April is in the public domain. This text is taken from Hoosier Lyrics, Project Gutenberg ebook #36150; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Eugene Field, April, in Hoosier Lyrics (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36150, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/field-poems/april.html, id L11632.
Form and metre
April is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 6 of its 7 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 21% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See 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 ABAB rainA · moreB · laneA · floorB
- 2 ABAB styA · croakB · eyeA · pokeB
- 3 ABAB byA · dirtB · spyA · shirtB
- 4 A-A- gooseA · o'er · looseA · more
- 5 ABAB sowA · slopB · nowA · estopB
- 6 ABAB adownA · highB · brownA · byB
- 7 ABAB roundA · approachB · soundA · roachB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Now April with sweet showers of freshening rain | 10 | ·/˘··/·/˘· |
| Has roused last summer's vigorous breath once more; | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| 'Tis in the air, the house, the street, the lane-- | 10 | ·········· |
| Puffs through the walls and oozes through the floor. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The rau-cous-throated frog ayont the sty | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| Sends forth, as erst, his amerous vermal croak, | 11 | ··········· |
| Each hungry mooly casts her swivel eye | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| For pots and pails in which her nose to poke. | 10 | ·········· |
| With gurgling glee the gutter gushes by, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Fraught all with filth, unknown and nameless dirt-- | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| A dead green goose, an o'er-ripe rat I spy; | 10 | ·········· |
| Head of a cat, tail of a flannel shirt. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The querulous cry of every gabbling goose | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| From thousand-scented mudholes echoes o'er; | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| The dogs and yawling cats have gotten loose | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And mock the hideous howls of hell once more. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| By yon scrub oak, where roots the sallow sow, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| In where John Murphy's wife outpours her slop; | 10 | ···/˘··/·· |
| Right there you'll find there's almost stench now | 9 | ·····/··· |
| To cause the world its nostrils to estop. | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| And yonder dauntless goat that bank adown, | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| That wreathes his old fantastic horns so high, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Gnaws sadly on the bustle of Miss Brown, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Which she discarded in the months gone by. | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| So in Goose Island cometh April round; | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| Full eagerly we watch the month's approach-- | 9 | ·/˘····˘/ |
| The season of sweet sight and pleasant sound, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| The season of the bedbug and the roach. | 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.