Spring
NOTHING is so beautiful as spring--When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;Thrush's eggs look little low heavens, and thrushThrough the echoing timber does so rinse and wringThe ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brushThe descending blue; that blue is all in a rushWith richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.
What is all this juice and all this joy?A strain of the earth's sweet being in the beginningIn Eden garden. Have, get, before it cloy,Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning,Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,Most, O maid's child, thy choice and worthy thewinning.
SOMETIMES a lantern moves along the night,That interests our eyes. And who goes there?I think; where from and bound, I wonder, where,With, all down darkness wide, his wading light?
Men go by me whom either beauty brightIn mould or mind or what not else makes rare:They rain against our much-thick and marsh airRich beams, till death or distance buys them quite.
Death or distance soon consumes them: windWhat most I may eye after, be in at the endI cannot, and out of sight is out of mind.
Christ minds: Christ's interest, what to avow or amendThere, eyes them, heart wants, care haunts, footfollows kind,Their ransom, their rescue, and first, fast, last friend.
Words in this poem
- lush a.
- Full of juice or succulence. [Prob. an abbrev. of lushious, fr. luscious.]
- rinse v. t.
- To wash lightly; to cleanse with a second or repeated application of water after washing. [OE., fr. OF. rincer, rimser, reinser, raïncier, F. rincer; of uncertain origin.]
- eden n.
- The garden where Adam and Eve first dwelt; hence, a delightful region or residence. [Heb. eden delight, pleasure; also, a place of pleasure, Eden.]
- cloy v. t.
- To fill or choke up; to stop up; to clog. [OE. cloer to nail up, F. clouer, fr. OF. clo nail, F. clou, fr. L. clavus nail. Cf. 3d Clove.]
- mould n.
- Crumbling, soft, friable earth; esp., earth containing the remains or constituents of organic matter, and suited to the growth of plants; soil. [OE. molde, AS. molde; akin to D. mul, G. mull, mulm, OHG. molt, molta, Icel. mold, Dan. muld, Sw. mull, Goth. mulda, and E. meal flour. See Meal, and cf. Mole a]
- avow v. t.
- To bind, or to devote, by a vow. Wyclif. [OF. avouer, fr. LL. votare to vow, fr. L. votun. See Vote, n.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Spring is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins Now First Published, Project Gutenberg ebook #22403; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Gerard Manley Hopkins, Spring, in Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22403, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hopkins-poems/spring.html, id L04380.
Form and metre
Spring is 30 lines in 6 stanzas. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABBA, in 2 of the 6 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 79%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 40% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABBAABBA springA · lushB · thrushB · wringA · singA · brushB · rushB · flingA
- 2 ABABA-B joyA · beginningB · cloyA · sinningB · boyA · the · winningB
- 3 ABBA nightA · thereB · whereB · lightA
- 4 ABBA brightA · rareB · airB · quiteA
- 5 A-A windA · end · mindA
- 6 A--A amendA · foot · kind · friendA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| NOTHING is so beautiful as spring-- | 9 | /˘··/˘˘·· |
| When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush; | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| Thrush's eggs look little low heavens, and thrush | 11 | /˘··/˘·/˘·· |
| Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring | 11 | ··/˘/˘····· |
| The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing; | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush | 12 | ·˘/˘········ |
| With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling. | 12 | ·/˘·/˘······ |
| What is all this juice and all this joy? | 9 | ········· |
| A strain of the earth's sweet being in the beginning | 12 | ······/··˘/˘ |
| In Eden garden. Have, get, before it cloy, | 11 | ·/˘/˘······ |
| Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning, | 11 | ·······/·/˘ |
| Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy, | 10 | /˘··/˘···· |
| Most, O maid's child, thy choice and worthy the | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| winning. | 2 | /˘ |
| SOMETIMES a lantern moves along the night, | 10 | ˘/·/˘·˘/·· |
| That interests our eyes. And who goes there? | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| I think; where from and bound, I wonder, where, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| With, all down darkness wide, his wading light? | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Men go by me whom either beauty bright | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| In mould or mind or what not else makes rare: | 10 | ·········· |
| They rain against our much-thick and marsh air | 10 | ····/····· |
| Rich beams, till death or distance buys them quite. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Death or distance soon consumes them: wind | 9 | ··/˘·˘/·· |
| What most I may eye after, be in at the end | 12 | ············ |
| I cannot, and out of sight is out of mind. | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| Christ minds: Christ's interest, what to avow or amend | 12 | ···/˘··˘/·˘/ |
| There, eyes them, heart wants, care haunts, foot | 8 | ········ |
| follows kind, | 3 | /˘· |
| Their ransom, their rescue, and first, fast, last friend. | 11 | ·/˘·/˘····· |
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.