Song
One sunny time in MayWhen lambs were sporting,The sap ran in the sprayAnd I went courting,And all the apple boughsWere bright with blossom,I picked an early roseFor my love's bosom.
And then I met her friend,Down by the water,Who cried "She's met her end,That gray-eyed daughter;That voice of hers is stilledHer beauty broken."O me, my love is killed,My love unspoken.
She was too sweet, too dear,To die so cruel,O Death, why leave me hereAnd take my jewel?Her voice went to the bone,So true, so ringing,And now I go alone,Winter or springing.
Words in this poem
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Song is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Story of a Round-House, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #40717; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Masefield, Song, in The Story of a Round-House, and Other Poems (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #40717, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masefield-round-house/song.html, id L24988.
Form and metre
Song is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDCD, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%).
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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---- mayA · sportingB · sprayA · courtingB · boughs · blossom · rose · bosom
- 2 ABABCDCD friendA · waterB · endA · daughterB · stilledC · brokenD · killedC · unspokenD
- 3 ABABCDCD dearA · cruelB · hereA · jewelB · boneC · ringingD · aloneC · springingD
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| One sunny time in May | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| When lambs were sporting, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| The sap ran in the spray | 6 | ······ |
| And I went courting, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| And all the apple boughs | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Were bright with blossom, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| I picked an early rose | 6 | ···/˘· |
| For my love's bosom. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| And then I met her friend, | 6 | ······ |
| Down by the water, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Who cried "She's met her end, | 6 | ······ |
| That gray-eyed daughter; | 5 | ···/˘ |
| That voice of hers is stilled | 6 | ······ |
| Her beauty broken." | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| O me, my love is killed, | 6 | ······ |
| My love unspoken. | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| She was too sweet, too dear, | 6 | ······ |
| To die so cruel, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| O Death, why leave me here | 6 | ······ |
| And take my jewel? | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Her voice went to the bone, | 6 | ······ |
| So true, so ringing, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| And now I go alone, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Winter or springing. | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
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.