To June
Ah, truant, thou art here again, I see!For in a season of such wretched weatherI thought that thou hadst left us altogether,Although I could not choose but fancy theeSkulking about the hill-tops, whence the gleeOf thy blue laughter peeped at times, or ratherThy bashful awkwardness, as doubtful whetherThou shouldst be seen in such a companyOf ugly runaways, unshapely heapsOf ruffian vapour, broken from restraintOf their slim prison in the ocean deeps.But yet I may not chide: fall to thy books--Fall to immediately without complaint--There they are lying, hills and vales and brooks.
Words in this poem
- altogether adv.
- All together; conjointly. [OE. altogedere; al all + togedere together. See Together.]
- glee n.
- Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
- bashful a.
- Abashed; daunted; dismayed. [See Bash.]
- vapour n.
- Any substance in the gaseous, or aëriform, state, the condition of which is ordinarily that of a liquid or solid. [OE. vapour, OF. vapour, vapor, vapeur, F. vapeur, L. vapor; probably for cvapor, and akin to Gr. kvepti to breathe, smell, Russ. kopote fine soot. Cf. Vapid.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To June 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 June, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/to-june.html, id L22458.
Form and metre
To June is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
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 ABBAA-B--C-DCD seeA · weatherB · altogetherB · theeA · gleeA · rather · whetherB · company · heaps · restraintC · deeps · booksD · complaintC · brooksD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ah, truant, thou art here again, I see! | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| For in a season of such wretched weather | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| I thought that thou hadst left us altogether, | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| Although I could not choose but fancy thee | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Skulking about the hill-tops, whence the glee | 10 | /˘········ |
| Of thy blue laughter peeped at times, or rather | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| Thy bashful awkwardness, as doubtful whether | 10 | ·/˘/˘·/˘·· |
| Thou shouldst be seen in such a company | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Of ugly runaways, unshapely heaps | 11 | ·/˘/˘······ |
| Of ruffian vapour, broken from restraint | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Of their slim prison in the ocean deeps. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| But yet I may not chide: fall to thy books-- | 10 | ·········· |
| Fall to immediately without complaint-- | 10 | ··˘/˘˘··˘/ |
| There they are lying, hills and vales and brooks. | 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.