Branch of the Sweet and Early Rose
Branch of the sweet and early roseThat in the purest beauty flows,So passing sweet to smell and sight,On whom shalt thou bestow delight?
Who in the dewy evening walkShall pluck thee from the tender stalk?Whose temples blushing shalt thou twine,And who inhale thy breath divine?
Words in this poem
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Branch of the Sweet and Early Rose is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poem-Book of the Gael Translations from Irish Gaelic Poetry into English Prose and Verse, Project Gutenberg ebook #46917; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Eleanor Hull, Branch of the Sweet and Early Rose, in The Poem-Book of the Gael (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #46917, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hull-gael/branch-of-the-sweet-and-early-rose.html, id L11769.
Form and metre
Branch of the Sweet and Early Rose is 8 lines in 2 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 roseA · flowsA · sightB · delightB
- 2 AABB walkA · stalkA · twineB · divineB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Branch of the sweet and early rose | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That in the purest beauty flows, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| So passing sweet to smell and sight, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| On whom shalt thou bestow delight? | 8 | ····˘/˘/ |
| Who in the dewy evening walk | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Shall pluck thee from the tender stalk? | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Whose temples blushing shalt thou twine, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And who inhale thy breath divine? | 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.