Cherry-Time
Cherries of the night are riperThan the cherries pluckt at noonGather to your fairy piperWhen he pipes his magic tune:Merry, merry,Take a cherry;Mine are sounder,Mine are rounder,Mine are sweeterFor the eaterUnder the moon.And you'll be fairies soon.
In the cherry pluckt at night,With the dew of summer swelling,There's a juice of pure delight,Cool, dark, sweet, divinely smelling.Merry, merry,Take a cherry;Mine are sounder,Mine are rounderMine are sweeterFor the eaterIn the moonlight.And you'll be fairies quite.
When I sound the fairy call,Gather here in silent meeting,Chin to knee on the orchard wall,Cooled with dew and cherries eating.Merry, merry,Take a cherry;Mine are sounder,Mine are rounder,Mine are sweeter.For the eaterWhen the dews fall.And you'll be fairies all.
I've watched the Seasons passing slow, so slow,In the fields between La Bassée and Bethune;Primroses and the first warm day of Spring,Red poppy floods of June,August, and yellowing Autumn, soTo Winter nights knee-deep in mud or snow,And you've been everything.
Dear, you've been everything that I most lackIn these soul-deadening trenches--pictures, books,Music, the quiet of an English wood,Beautiful comrade-looks,The narrow, bouldered mountain-track,The broad, full-bosomed ocean, green and black,And Peace, and all that's good.
Words in this poem
- sounder n.
- One who, or that which; sounds; specifically, an instrument used in telegraphy in place of a register, the communications being read by sound.
- rounder n.
- One who rounds; one who comes about frequently or regularly.
- yellowing n.
- The act or process of making yellow.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Cherry-Time is in the public domain. This text is taken from Fairies and Fusiliers, Project Gutenberg ebook #10122; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Robert Graves, Cherry-Time, in Fairies and Fusiliers (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10122, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/graves-fairies/cherry-time.html, id L02452.
Form and metre
Cherry-Time is 50 lines in 5 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 56% of the lines. 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.2 syllables. 23 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 22% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in rhyming couplets.
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 ABABCCDDEEBB riperA · noonB · piperA · tuneB · merryC · cherryC · sounderD · rounderD · sweeterE · eaterE · moonB · soonB
- 2 ABABCCDDEEAA nightA · swellingB · delightA · smellingB · merryC · cherryC · sounderD · rounderD · sweeterE · eaterE · moonlightA · quiteA
- 3 ABABCCDDEEAA callA · meetingB · wallA · eatingB · merryC · cherryC · sounderD · rounderD · sweeterE · eaterE · fallA · allA
- 4 ABCBAAC slowA · bethuneB · springC · juneB · soA · snowA · everythingC
- 5 ABCBAAC lackA · booksB · woodC · looksB · trackA · blackA · goodC
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Cherries of the night are riper | 8 | /˘······ |
| Than the cherries pluckt at noon | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Gather to your fairy piper | 8 | /˘··/˘/˘ |
| When he pipes his magic tune: | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Merry, merry, | 4 | /˘/˘ |
| Take a cherry; | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Mine are sounder, | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Mine are rounder, | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Mine are sweeter | 4 | ··/˘ |
| For the eater | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Under the moon. | 4 | ···· |
| And you'll be fairies soon. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| In the cherry pluckt at night, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| With the dew of summer swelling, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| There's a juice of pure delight, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Cool, dark, sweet, divinely smelling. | 8 | ···˘/˘/˘ |
| Merry, merry, | 4 | /˘/˘ |
| Take a cherry; | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Mine are sounder, | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Mine are rounder | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Mine are sweeter | 4 | ··/˘ |
| For the eater | 4 | ··/˘ |
| In the moonlight. | 4 | ··/· |
| And you'll be fairies quite. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| When I sound the fairy call, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Gather here in silent meeting, | 8 | /˘··/˘/˘ |
| Chin to knee on the orchard wall, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Cooled with dew and cherries eating. | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Merry, merry, | 4 | /˘/˘ |
| Take a cherry; | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Mine are sounder, | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Mine are rounder, | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Mine are sweeter. | 4 | ··/˘ |
| For the eater | 4 | ··/˘ |
| When the dews fall. | 4 | ···· |
| And you'll be fairies all. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I've watched the Seasons passing slow, so slow, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| In the fields between La Bassée and Bethune; | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Primroses and the first warm day of Spring, | 10 | /·˘······· |
| Red poppy floods of June, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| August, and yellowing Autumn, so | 8 | /˘·/˘/˘· |
| To Winter nights knee-deep in mud or snow, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And you've been everything. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Dear, you've been everything that I most lack | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| In these soul-deadening trenches--pictures, books, | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| Music, the quiet of an English wood, | 9 | /˘·/··/˘· |
| Beautiful comrade-looks, | 6 | /˘˘/·· |
| The narrow, bouldered mountain-track, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| The broad, full-bosomed ocean, green and black, | 9 | ···/˘/··· |
| And Peace, and all that's good. | 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.