Henri Murger: Spring in the Student’s Quarter
WINTER is passing, and the bellsFor ever with their silver layMurmur a melody that tellsOf April and of Easter day.High in sweet air the light vane sets,The weathercocks all southward twirl;A sou will buy her violetsAnd make Nini a happy girl.
The winter to the poor was sore,Counting the weary winter days,Watching his little fire-wood store,The bitter snow-flakes fell always;And now his last log dimly gleamed,Lighting the room with feeble glare,Half cinder and half smoke it seemedThat the wind wafted into air.
Pilgrims from ocean and far islesSee where the east is reddening,The flocks that fly a thousand milesFrom sunsetting to sunsetting;Look up, look out, behold the swallows,The throats that twitter, the wings that beat;And on their song the summer follows,And in the summer life is sweet.
With the green tender buds that knowThe shoot and sap of lusty springMy neighbour of a year agoHer casement, see, is opening;Through all the bitter months that were,Forth from her nest she dared not flee,She was a study for Boucher,She now might sit to Gavarni.
Words in this poem
- twirl v. t.
- To move or turn round rapidly; to whirl round; to move and turn rapidly with the fingers. [Cf. AS. þwiril a churn staff, a stirrer, flail, þweran, aþweran, to agitate, twirl, G. zwirlen, quirlen, to twirl, to turn round or about, quirl a twirling stic]
- dimly adv.
- In a dim or obscure manner; not brightly or clearly; with imperfect sight.
- glare v. i.
- To shine with a bright, dazzling light. [OE. glaren, gloren; cf. AS. glær amber, LG. glaren to glow or burn like coals, D. gloren to glimmer; prob. akin to E. glass.]
- cinder n.
- Partly burned or vitrified coal, or other combustible, in which fire is extinct. [AS. sinder slag, dross; akin to Icel. sindr dross, Sw. sinder, G. sinter, D. sintel; perh. influenced by F. cendre ashes, fr. L. cinis. Cf. Sinter.]
- sunsetting n.
- The descent of the sun below the horizon; also, the time when the sun sets; evening. Also used figuratively.
- twitter n.
- One who twits, or reproaches; an upbraider. [From Twit.]
- neighbour v. i.
- To dwell in the vicinity; to be a neighbor, or in the neighborhood; to be near.
- casement n.
- A window sash opening on hinges affixed to the upright side of the frame into which it is fitted. (Poetically) A window. [Shortened fr. encasement. See Incase 1st Case, and cf. Incasement.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Henri Murger: Spring in the Student’s Quarter is in the public domain. This text is taken from Ballads and Lyrics of Old France, with Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #795, the Andrew Lang 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: Various, Henri Murger: Spring in the Student’s Quarter, in Ballads and Lyrics of Old France (1872), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #795, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lang-old-france/spring-in-the-student-s-quarter.html, id L26912.
Form and metre
Henri Murger: Spring in the Student’s Quarter is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDCD, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
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 bellsA · layB · tellsA · dayB · setsC · twirlD · violetsC · girlD
- 2 ABABCDCD soreA · daysB · storeA · alwaysB · gleamedC · glareD · seemedC · airD
- 3 ABABCDCD islesA · reddeningB · milesA · sunsettingB · swallowsC · beatD · followsC · sweetD
- 4 ABAB---- knowA · springB · agoA · openingB · were · flee · boucher · gavarni
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 |
|---|---|---|
| WINTER is passing, and the bells | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| For ever with their silver lay | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Murmur a melody that tells | 8 | /˘·/˘˘·· |
| Of April and of Easter day. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| High in sweet air the light vane sets, | 8 | ········ |
| The weathercocks all southward twirl; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A sou will buy her violets | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| And make Nini a happy girl. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The winter to the poor was sore, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Counting the weary winter days, | 8 | /˘·/˘/˘· |
| Watching his little fire-wood store, | 8 | /˘·/˘/·· |
| The bitter snow-flakes fell always; | 8 | ·/˘···/· |
| And now his last log dimly gleamed, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Lighting the room with feeble glare, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Half cinder and half smoke it seemed | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| That the wind wafted into air. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Pilgrims from ocean and far isles | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| See where the east is reddening, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| The flocks that fly a thousand miles | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| From sunsetting to sunsetting; | 8 | ·/·˘·/·˘ |
| Look up, look out, behold the swallows, | 9 | ····˘/·/˘ |
| The throats that twitter, the wings that beat; | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| And on their song the summer follows, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| And in the summer life is sweet. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| With the green tender buds that know | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The shoot and sap of lusty spring | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| My neighbour of a year ago | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Her casement, see, is opening; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| Through all the bitter months that were, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Forth from her nest she dared not flee, | 8 | ········ |
| She was a study for Boucher, | 8 | ···/˘·/˘ |
| She now might sit to Gavarni. | 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.