Springtide
The lonely convent on the hillDraws merchants faring from the west;Almost upon the waters stillThe quiet clouds lean down and rest.
In green pavilions of warm treesThe golden builders toil and sing;While swallows dip along the leas,And dabble in the ooze of Spring.
A thousand flowers, a thousand dreams,Bright pageants in confusion pass.See yonder, where the white horse gleamsHis fetlocks deep in pliant grass.
Beside the eastern lake there callsNo laughing throng, no lover goes;But in the long embankment wallsThe willow shade invites repose.
Words in this poem
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Springtide is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Lute of Jade, Project Gutenberg ebook #390, the L. Cranmer-Byng 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, Springtide, in A Lute of Jade (1909), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #390, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lute-of-jade/springtide.html, id L15609.
Form and metre
Springtide is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 96%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 38% 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 ABAB hillA · westB · stillA · restB
- 2 ABAB treesA · singB · leasA · springB
- 3 ABAB dreamsA · passB · gleamsA · grassB
- 4 ABAB callsA · goesB · wallsA · reposeB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The lonely convent on the hill | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Draws merchants faring from the west; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Almost upon the waters still | 8 | /····/˘· |
| The quiet clouds lean down and rest. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| In green pavilions of warm trees | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| The golden builders toil and sing; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| While swallows dip along the leas, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| And dabble in the ooze of Spring. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A thousand flowers, a thousand dreams, | 8 | ·/˘/·/˘· |
| Bright pageants in confusion pass. | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| See yonder, where the white horse gleams | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| His fetlocks deep in pliant grass. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Beside the eastern lake there calls | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| No laughing throng, no lover goes; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| But in the long embankment walls | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| The willow shade invites repose. | 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.