Pastoral
IT’S the Spring.Earth has conceived, and her bosom,Teeming with summer, is glad.
Vistas of change and adventure,Thro’ the green landThe grey roads go beckoning and winding,Peopled with wains, and melodiousWith harness-bells jangling:Jangling and twangling rough rhythmsTo the slow march of the stately, great horsesWhistled and shouted along.
White fleets of cloud,Argosies heavy with fruitfulness,Sail the blue peacefully. Green flame the hedgerows.Blackbirds are bugling, and white in wet windsSway the tall poplars.Pageants of colour and fragrance,Pass the sweet meadows, and viewlessWalks the mild spirit of May,Visibly blessing the world.
O, the brilliance of blossoming orchards!O, the savour and thrill of the woods,When their leafage is stirredBy the flight of the Angel of Rain!Loud lows the steer; in the fallowsRooks are alert; and the brooksGurgle and tinkle and trill. Thro’ the gloamings,Under the rare, shy stars,Boy and girl wander,Dreaming in darkness and dew.
It’s the Spring.A sprightliness feeble and squalidWakes in the ward, and I sicken,Impotent, winter at heart.
Words in this poem
- teeming a.
- Prolific; productive.
- peopled a.
- Stocked with, or as with, people; inhabited.
- jangling a.
- Producing discordant sounds.
- viewless a.
- Not perceivable by the eye; invisible; unseen.
- savour v. t.
- To perceive by the smell or the taste; hence, to perceive; to note. B. Jonson.
- leafage n.
- Leaves, collectively; foliage.
- gurgle v. i.
- To run or flow in a broken, irregular, noisy current, as water from a bottle, or a small stream among pebbles or stones. [Cf. It. gorgogliare to gargle, bubble up, fr. L. gurgulio gullet. Cf. Gargle, Gorge.]
- squalid a.
- Dirty through neglect; foul; filthy; extremely dirty. [L. squalidus, fr. squalere to be foul or filthy.]
- sicken v. t.
- To make sick; to disease.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Pastoral 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, Pastoral, in Poems (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1568, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/henley-poems/pastoral.html, id L12343.
Form and metre
Pastoral is 34 lines in 5 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. 79% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.5 syllables. 16 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 29% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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.
- 2 ----A--A adventure · land · winding · melodious · janglingA · rhythms · horses · alongA
- 4 AA-------- orchardsA · woodsA · stirred · rain · fallows · brooks · gloamings · stars · wander · dew
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 |
|---|---|---|
| IT’S the Spring. | 3 | ··· |
| Earth has conceived, and her bosom, | 8 | ··˘/··/˘ |
| Teeming with summer, is glad. | 7 | /˘·/˘·· |
| Vistas of change and adventure, | 8 | /˘···˘/˘ |
| Thro’ the green land | 4 | ···· |
| The grey roads go beckoning and winding, | 9 | ····/˘·/˘ |
| Peopled with wains, and melodious | 9 | /˘···˘/˘˘ |
| With harness-bells jangling: | 7 | ·/˘·/˘˘ |
| Jangling and twangling rough rhythms | 9 | /˘˘····/˘ |
| To the slow march of the stately, great horses | 11 | ······/˘·/˘ |
| Whistled and shouted along. | 8 | /˘˘·/˘˘/ |
| White fleets of cloud, | 4 | ···· |
| Argosies heavy with fruitfulness, | 8 | /˘/˘···· |
| Sail the blue peacefully. Green flame the hedgerows. | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| Blackbirds are bugling, and white in wet winds | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Sway the tall poplars. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Pageants of colour and fragrance, | 8 | /˘·/˘·/˘ |
| Pass the sweet meadows, and viewless | 8 | ···/··/˘ |
| Walks the mild spirit of May, | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Visibly blessing the world. | 7 | /˘˘/˘·· |
| O, the brilliance of blossoming orchards! | 9 | ··/˘·/˘/˘ |
| O, the savour and thrill of the woods, | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| When their leafage is stirred | 7 | ··/˘··˘ |
| By the flight of the Angel of Rain! | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Loud lows the steer; in the fallows | 8 | ······/· |
| Rooks are alert; and the brooks | 7 | ··˘/··· |
| Gurgle and tinkle and trill. Thro’ the gloamings, | 11 | /˘·/˘····/˘ |
| Under the rare, shy stars, | 6 | ······ |
| Boy and girl wander, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Dreaming in darkness and dew. | 7 | /˘·/˘·· |
| It’s the Spring. | 3 | ··· |
| A sprightliness feeble and squalid | 9 | ·/˘˘/˘·/˘ |
| Wakes in the ward, and I sicken, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Impotent, winter at heart. | 7 | /˘˘/˘·· |
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