July I
BLUE July, bright July,Month of storms and gorgeous blue;Violet lightnings o’er thy sky,Heavy falls of drenching dew;Summer crown! o’er glen and gladeShrinking hyacinths in their shade;I welcome thee with all thy pride,I love thee like an Eastern bride.Though all the singing days are doneAs in those climes that clasp the sun;Though the cuckoo in his throatLeaves to the dove his last twin note;Come to me with thy lustrous eye,Golden-dawning oriently,Come with all thy shining blooms,Thy rich red rose and rolling glooms.Though the cuckoo doth but sing ‘cuk, cuk,’And the dove alone doth coo;Though the cushat spins her coo-r-roo, r-r-roo—To the cuckoo’s halting ‘cuk.’
Words in this poem
- gorgeous a.
- Imposing through splendid or various colors; showy; fine; magnificent. [OF. gorgias beautiful, glorious, vain, luxurious; cf. OF. gorgias ruff, neck handkerchief, and F. gorge throat, and se pengorger to assume airs. Cf. Gorge, n.]
- glade n.
- An open passage through a wood; a grassy open or cleared space in a forest. [Prob. of Scand. origin, and akin to glad, a.; cf. also W. golead, goleuad, a lighting, illumination, fr. goleu light, clear, bright, goleu fwlch glade, lit., a ]
- cushat n.
- The ringdove or wood pigeon. [AS. cusceote.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
July I is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems — Volume 1, Project Gutenberg ebook #1381; 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 Meredith, July I, in Poems, Volume I (1851–1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1381, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/meredith-poems/july-i.html, id L13163.
Form and metre
July I is 20 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 50% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 15% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 ABABCCDDEEFFA-GGHB-H julyA · blueB · skyA · dewB · gladeC · shadeC · prideD · brideD · doneE · sunE · throatF · noteF · eyeA · oriently · bloomsG · gloomsG · cukH · cooB · roo · cukH
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 |
|---|---|---|
| BLUE July, bright July, | 6 | ·˘/··/ |
| Month of storms and gorgeous blue; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Violet lightnings o’er thy sky, | 8 | /˘˘/˘··· |
| Heavy falls of drenching dew; | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Summer crown! o’er glen and glade | 7 | /˘····· |
| Shrinking hyacinths in their shade; | 8 | /˘/˘˘··· |
| I welcome thee with all thy pride, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| I love thee like an Eastern bride. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Though all the singing days are done | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| As in those climes that clasp the sun; | 8 | ········ |
| Though the cuckoo in his throat | 7 | ··/···· |
| Leaves to the dove his last twin note; | 8 | ········ |
| Come to me with thy lustrous eye, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Golden-dawning oriently, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Come with all thy shining blooms, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Thy rich red rose and rolling glooms. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Though the cuckoo doth but sing ‘cuk, cuk,’ | 9 | ··/······ |
| And the dove alone doth coo; | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Though the cushat spins her coo-r-roo, r-r-roo— | 12 | ··/˘········ |
| To the cuckoo’s halting ‘cuk.’ | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
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.