Foliage
Come forth, and let us through our hearts receiveThe joy of verdure! See! the honey’d limeShowers cool green light o’er banks where wild-flowers weaveThick tapestry, and woodbine-tendrils climbUp the brown oak from buds of moss and thyme.The rich deep masses of the sycamoreHang heavy with the fulness of their prime;And the white poplar, from its foliage hoar,Scatters forth gleams like moonlight, with each galeThat sweeps the boughs: the chestnut-flowers are past,The crowning glories of the hawthorn fail,But arches of sweet eglantine are castFrom every hedge. Oh! never may we lose,Dear friend! our fresh delight in simplest nature’s hues!
Words in this poem
- hoar v. t.
- To become moldy or musty. [AS. harian to grow gray.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Foliage is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Felicia Hemans, Project Gutenberg ebook #66785; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Felicia Hemans, Foliage, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/foliage.html, id L19812.
Form and metre
Foliage is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABBCBCDEDEFF. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 ABABBCBCDEDEFF receiveA · limeB · weaveA · climbB · thymeB · sycamoreC · primeB · hoarC · galeD · pastE · failD · castE · loseF · huesF
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 forth, and let us through our hearts receive | 10 | ······/·˘/ |
| The joy of verdure! See! the honey’d lime | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Showers cool green light o’er banks where wild-flowers weave | 10 | /·······/· |
| Thick tapestry, and woodbine-tendrils climb | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘··· |
| Up the brown oak from buds of moss and thyme. | 10 | ·········· |
| The rich deep masses of the sycamore | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Hang heavy with the fulness of their prime; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| And the white poplar, from its foliage hoar, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Scatters forth gleams like moonlight, with each gale | 10 | /˘···/···· |
| That sweeps the boughs: the chestnut-flowers are past, | 10 | ·····/·/·· |
| The crowning glories of the hawthorn fail, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/·· |
| But arches of sweet eglantine are cast | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| From every hedge. Oh! never may we lose, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Dear friend! our fresh delight in simplest nature’s hues! | 12 | ··/·˘/·/˘/˘· |
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.