May
O month when they who love must love and wed!Were one to go to worlds where May is naught,And seek to tell the memories he had broughtFrom earth of thee, what were most fitly said?I know not if the rosy showers shedFrom apple-boughs, or if the soft green wroughtIn fields, or if the robin's call be fraughtThe most with thy delight. Perhaps they readThee best who in the ancient time did sayThou wert the sacred month unto the old:No blossom blooms upon thy brightest daySo subtly sweet as memories which unfoldIn aged hearts which in thy sunshine lie,To sun themselves once more before they die.
Words in this poem
- fraught n.
- A freight; a cargo. [OE.fraight, fraght; akin to Dan. fragt, Sw. frakt, D. vracht, G. fracht, cf. OHG. fr merit, reward; perh. from corresponding to E. for + The root of E. own. Cf.]
- subtly adv.
- In a subtle manner; slyly; artfully; cunningly.
- 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
May is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Calendar of Sonnets, Project Gutenberg ebook #9825; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Helen Hunt Jackson, May, in A Calendar of Sonnets (1886), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9825, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/jackson-sonnets/may.html, id L22649.
Form and metre
May is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACDCDEE. 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 ABBAABBACDCDEE wedA · naughtB · broughtB · saidA · shedA · wroughtB · fraughtB · readA · sayC · oldD · dayC · unfoldD · lieE · dieE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| O month when they who love must love and wed! | 10 | ·········· |
| Were one to go to worlds where May is naught, | 10 | ·········· |
| And seek to tell the memories he had brought | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| From earth of thee, what were most fitly said? | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| I know not if the rosy showers shed | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| From apple-boughs, or if the soft green wrought | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| In fields, or if the robin's call be fraught | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The most with thy delight. Perhaps they read | 10 | ····˘/˘/·· |
| Thee best who in the ancient time did say | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Thou wert the sacred month unto the old: | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| No blossom blooms upon thy brightest day | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| So subtly sweet as memories which unfold | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| In aged hearts which in thy sunshine lie, | 9 | ······/·· |
| To sun themselves once more before they die. | 10 | ··˘/······ |
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.