The Seasons
W'en de leaves begin to fall,An' de fros' is on de ground,An' de 'simmons is a-ripenin' on de tree;W'en I heah de dinner call,An' de chillen gadder 'round,'Tis den de 'possum is de meat fu' me.
W'en de wintertime am pas'An' de spring is come at las',W'en de good ole summer sun begins to shine;Oh! my thoughts den tek a turn,An' my heart begins to yearnFo' dat watermelon growin' on de vine.
Now, de yeah will sholy bring'Round a season fu' us all,Ev'y one kin pick his season f'om de res';But de melon in de spring,An' de 'possum in de fall,Mek it hard to tell which time o' year am bes'.
Words in this poem
- gadder n.
- One who roves about idly, a rambling gossip.
- yearn v. t.
- To pain; to grieve; to vex. [Also earn, ern; probably a corruption of OE. ermen to grieve, AS. ierman, yrman, or geierman, geyrman, fr. earm wretched, poor; akin to D. & G. arm, Icel. armr,]
- watermelon n.
- The very large ovoid or roundish fruit of a cucurbitaceous plant (Citrullus vulgaris) of many varieties; also, the plant itself.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Seasons is in the public domain. This text is taken from Fifty Years, & Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #17884; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: James Weldon Johnson, The Seasons, in Fifty Years and Other Poems (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17884, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/johnson-fifty-years/the-seasons.html, id L08344.
Form and metre
The Seasons is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.3 syllables. 11% 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.
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 ABCABC fallA · groundB · treeC · callA · roundB · meC
- 2 --ABBA pas · las · shineA · turnB · yearnB · vineA
- 3 AB-AB- bringA · allB · res · springA · fallB · bes
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 |
|---|---|---|
| W'en de leaves begin to fall, | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| An' de fros' is on de ground, | 7 | ······· |
| An' de 'simmons is a-ripenin' on de tree; | 12 | ··/˘········ |
| W'en I heah de dinner call, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| An' de chillen gadder 'round, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| 'Tis den de 'possum is de meat fu' me. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| W'en de wintertime am pas' | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| An' de spring is come at las', | 7 | ······· |
| W'en de good ole summer sun begins to shine; | 11 | ····/˘·˘/·· |
| Oh! my thoughts den tek a turn, | 7 | ······· |
| An' my heart begins to yearn | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Fo' dat watermelon growin' on de vine. | 11 | ··/˘·˘····· |
| Now, de yeah will sholy bring | 7 | ······· |
| 'Round a season fu' us all, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Ev'y one kin pick his season f'om de res'; | 11 | ······/˘··· |
| But de melon in de spring, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| An' de 'possum in de fall, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Mek it hard to tell which time o' year am bes'. | 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.