Georgetown, U.S.A.
IF you would hear the thrushes sing,Then go to Georgetown in the spring,And wander slowly at your easeAlong the avenues of trees.
The sunshine and the shadows meetTo weave a web across the street,And in and out its magic strandsPlay little children, joining hands.
The sky is washed with showers and dew,Until it looks the palest blue,And in the gardens down belowYou almost see the grasses grow.
There’s something very very oldAbout the place, so we are told,And yet it’s marvellously gayAnd young, when seen on such a day!
The silent corners all aroundBreak up in waves of pleasant sound,The mansions of Colonial daysAllow the sun to gild their greys.
The paving-stones, with earth between,Are fringed with shoots of emerald green,And oh! the song the thrushes singIn Georgetown, when the year’s at spring!
Words in this poem
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
- colonial a.
- Of or pertaining to a colony; as, colonial rights, traffic, wars. [Cf. F. colonial.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Georgetown, U.S.A. is in the public domain. This text is taken from Songs of Three Counties, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #50591; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Radclyffe Hall, Georgetown, U.S.A., in Songs of Three Counties, and Other Poems (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #50591, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hall-three-counties/georgetown-u-s-a.html, id L22700.
Form and metre
Georgetown, U.S.A. is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%).
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 AABB singA · springA · easeB · treesB
- 2 AABB meetA · streetA · strandsB · handsB
- 3 AABB dewA · blueA · belowB · growB
- 4 AABB oldA · toldA · gayB · dayB
- 5 AABB aroundA · soundA · daysB · greysB
- 6 AABB betweenA · greenA · singB · springB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| IF you would hear the thrushes sing, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Then go to Georgetown in the spring, | 8 | ···/···· |
| And wander slowly at your ease | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Along the avenues of trees. | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| The sunshine and the shadows meet | 8 | ·/···/·· |
| To weave a web across the street, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| And in and out its magic strands | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Play little children, joining hands. | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| The sky is washed with showers and dew, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| Until it looks the palest blue, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And in the gardens down below | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| You almost see the grasses grow. | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| There’s something very very old | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| About the place, so we are told, | 8 | ········ |
| And yet it’s marvellously gay | 8 | ········ |
| And young, when seen on such a day! | 8 | ········ |
| The silent corners all around | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Break up in waves of pleasant sound, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The mansions of Colonial days | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Allow the sun to gild their greys. | 8 | ˘/······ |
| The paving-stones, with earth between, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Are fringed with shoots of emerald green, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And oh! the song the thrushes sing | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| In Georgetown, when the year’s at spring! | 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.