Aubade
As I would free the white almond from the green huskSo would I strip your trappings off,Beloved.And fingering the smooth and polished kernelI should see that in my hands glittered a gem beyond counting.
Words in this poem
- fingering n.
- The act or process of handling or touching with the fingers.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Aubade is in the public domain. This text is taken from Sword Blades and Poppy Seed, Project Gutenberg ebook #1020; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Amy Lowell, Aubade, in Sword Blades and Poppy Seed (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1020, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lowell-amy-sword-blades/aubade.html, id L08243.
Form and metre
Aubade is 5 lines in a single stanza. The lines average 9.6 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
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.
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| As I would free the white almond from the green husk | 12 | ······/˘···· |
| So would I strip your trappings off, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Beloved. | 2 | ˘/ |
| And fingering the smooth and polished kernel | 11 | ·/˘˘···/˘/˘ |
| I should see that in my hands glittered a gem beyond counting. | 15 | ·······/˘····/˘ |
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.