It Is Not Always May
No hay pajaros en los nidos de antano.Spanish Proverb
The sun is bright,--the air is clear,The darting swallows soar and sing.And from the stately elms I hearThe bluebird prophesying Spring.
So blue you winding river flows,It seems an outlet from the sky,Where waiting till the west-wind blows,The freighted clouds at anchor lie.
All things are new;--the buds, the leaves,That gild the elm-tree's nodding crest,And even the nest beneath the eaves;--There are no birds in last year's nest!
All things rejoice in youth and love,The fulness of their first delight!And learn from the soft heavens aboveThe melting tenderness of night.
Maiden, that read'st this simple rhyme,Enjoy thy youth, it will not stay;Enjoy the fragrance of thy prime,For oh, it is not always May!
Enjoy the Spring of Love and Youth,To some good angel leave the rest;For Time will teach thee soon the truth,There are no birds in last year's nest!
Words in this poem
- bluebird n.
- A small song bird (Sialia sialis), very common in the United States, and, in the north, one of the earliest to arrive in spring.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
It Is Not Always May is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Project Gutenberg ebook #1365; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, It Is Not Always May, in A Psalm of Life, and Other Poems (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/it-is-not-always-may.html, id L17499.
Form and metre
It Is Not Always May is 26 lines in 7 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 6 of its 7 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% 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.
- 2 ABAB clearA · singB · hearA · springB
- 3 ABAB flowsA · skyB · blowsA · lieB
- 4 ABAB leavesA · crestB · eavesA · nestB
- 5 ABAB loveA · delightB · aboveA · nightB
- 6 ABAB rhymeA · stayB · primeA · mayB
- 7 ABAB youthA · restB · truthA · nestB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| No hay pajaros en los nidos de antano. | 13 | ············· |
| Spanish Proverb | 4 | /˘/˘ |
| The sun is bright,--the air is clear, | 8 | ········ |
| The darting swallows soar and sing. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And from the stately elms I hear | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The bluebird prophesying Spring. | 7 | ·/····· |
| So blue you winding river flows, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| It seems an outlet from the sky, | 8 | ···/···· |
| Where waiting till the west-wind blows, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The freighted clouds at anchor lie. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| All things are new;--the buds, the leaves, | 8 | ········ |
| That gild the elm-tree's nodding crest, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And even the nest beneath the eaves;-- | 8 | ·/······ |
| There are no birds in last year's nest! | 8 | ········ |
| All things rejoice in youth and love, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| The fulness of their first delight! | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| And learn from the soft heavens above | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| The melting tenderness of night. | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘·· |
| Maiden, that read'st this simple rhyme, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Enjoy thy youth, it will not stay; | 8 | ˘/······ |
| Enjoy the fragrance of thy prime, | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| For oh, it is not always May! | 8 | ·····/·· |
| Enjoy the Spring of Love and Youth, | 8 | ˘/······ |
| To some good angel leave the rest; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| For Time will teach thee soon the truth, | 8 | ········ |
| There are no birds in last year's nest! | 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.