Anterotics
LAUGHS the happy April mornThro’ my grimy, little window,And a shaft of sunshine pushesThro’ the shadows in the square.
Dogs are tracing thro’ the grass,Crows are cawing round the chimneys,In and out among the washingGoes the West at hide-and-seek.
Loud and cheerful clangs the bell.Here the nurses troop to breakfast.Handsome, ugly, all are women . . .O, the Spring—the Spring—the Spring!
Words in this poem
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- grimy a.
- Full of grime; begrimed; dirty; foul.
- 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.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Anterotics is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #1568; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: W. E. Henley, Anterotics, in Poems (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1568, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/henley-poems/anterotics.html, id L12347.
Form and metre
Anterotics is 12 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 98%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.5 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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.
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| LAUGHS the happy April morn | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Thro’ my grimy, little window, | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| And a shaft of sunshine pushes | 8 | ····/·/˘ |
| Thro’ the shadows in the square. | 7 | ··/···· |
| Dogs are tracing thro’ the grass, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Crows are cawing round the chimneys, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| In and out among the washing | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Goes the West at hide-and-seek. | 7 | ······· |
| Loud and cheerful clangs the bell. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Here the nurses troop to breakfast. | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Handsome, ugly, all are women . . . | 8 | /˘/˘··/˘ |
| O, the Spring—the Spring—the Spring! | 7 | ······· |
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.