To a February Primrose
I know not what among the grass thou art,Thy nature, nor thy substance, fairest flower,Nor what to other eyes thou hast of powerTo send thine image through them to the heart;But when I push the frosty leaves apartAnd see thee hiding in thy wintry bowerThou growest up within me from that hour,And through the snow I with the spring depart.
I have no words. But fragrant is the breath,Pale beauty, of thy second life within.There is a wind that cometh for thy death,But thou a life immortal dost begin,Where in one soul, which is thy heaven, shall dwellThy spirit, beautiful Unspeakable!
Words in this poem
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- wintry a.
- Suitable to winter; resembling winter, or what belongs to winter; brumal; hyemal; cold; stormy; wintery. [AS. wintrig.]
- depart v. i.
- To part; to divide; to separate. [OE. departen to divide, part, depart, F. départir to divide, distribute, se départir to separate one's self, depart; pref. dé- (L. de) + partir to part, depart,]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To a February Primrose is in the public domain. This text is taken from The poetical works of George MacDonald in two volumes — Volume 2, Project Gutenberg ebook #9984; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: George MacDonald, To a February Primrose, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/to-a-february-primrose.html, id L22401.
Form and metre
To a February Primrose is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABBAABBA artA · flowerB · powerB · heartA · apartA · bowerB · hourB · departA
- 2 ABABCC breathA · withinB · deathA · beginB · dwellC · unspeakableC
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I know not what among the grass thou art, | 10 | ·········· |
| Thy nature, nor thy substance, fairest flower, | 11 | ·/˘··/˘/˘/˘ |
| Nor what to other eyes thou hast of power | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| To send thine image through them to the heart; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| But when I push the frosty leaves apart | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| And see thee hiding in thy wintry bower | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Thou growest up within me from that hour, | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| And through the snow I with the spring depart. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| I have no words. But fragrant is the breath, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Pale beauty, of thy second life within. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| There is a wind that cometh for thy death, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| But thou a life immortal dost begin, | 10 | ····˘/˘·˘/ |
| Where in one soul, which is thy heaven, shall dwell | 10 | ·······/·· |
| Thy spirit, beautiful Unspeakable! | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘˘/˘˘ |
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.