Early Spring
Now, dearest, lend a heedful earAnd listen while I singDelights to every maiden dear,The charms of early spring:When earth is dotted with the heapsOf corn, when heron-screamIs rare but sweet, when passion leapsAnd paints a livelier dream.
When all must cheerfully applaudA blazing open fire;Or if they needs must go abroad,The sun is their desire;When everybody hopes to findThe frosty chill allayedBy garments warm, a window-blindShut, and a sweet young maid.
Then may the days of early springFor you be rich and fullWith love's proud, soft philanderingAnd many a candy-pull,With sweetest rice and sugar-cane:And may you float aboveThe absent grieving and the painOf separated love.
Words in this poem
- cheerfully adv.
- In a cheerful manner, gladly.
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Early Spring is in the public domain. This text is taken from Shakuntala and Other Works, Project Gutenberg ebook #16659, the Arthur W. Ryder translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Kalidasa, Early Spring, in Shakuntala and Other Works (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16659, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kalidasa-shakuntala/early-spring.html, id L15659.
Form and metre
Early Spring is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCDCD. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 58% 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 ABABCDCD earA · singB · dearA · springB · heapsC · screamD · leapsC · dreamD
- 2 ABABCDCD applaudA · fireB · abroadA · desireB · findC · allayedD · blindC · maidD
- 3 ABABCDCD springA · fullB · philanderingA · pullB · caneC · aboveD · painC · loveD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Now, dearest, lend a heedful ear | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And listen while I sing | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Delights to every maiden dear, | 9 | ˘/·/˘˘/˘· |
| The charms of early spring: | 6 | ···/˘· |
| When earth is dotted with the heaps | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Of corn, when heron-scream | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Is rare but sweet, when passion leaps | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And paints a livelier dream. | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| When all must cheerfully applaud | 8 | ···/˘˘˘/ |
| A blazing open fire; | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| Or if they needs must go abroad, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The sun is their desire; | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| When everybody hopes to find | 8 | ·/˘·˘··· |
| The frosty chill allayed | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| By garments warm, a window-blind | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Shut, and a sweet young maid. | 6 | ······ |
| Then may the days of early spring | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For you be rich and full | 6 | ······ |
| With love's proud, soft philandering | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| And many a candy-pull, | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| With sweetest rice and sugar-cane: | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And may you float above | 6 | ······ |
| The absent grieving and the pain | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Of separated love. | 6 | ·/˘·˘· |
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.