Song Spring
WHEN buds of palm do burst and spreadTheir downy feathers in the lane,And orchard blossoms, white and red,Breathe Spring delight for Autumn gain;And the skylark shakes his wings in the rain;
O then is the season to look for a bride!Choose her warily, woo her unseen;For the choicest maids are those that hideLike dewy violets under the green.
Words in this poem
- skylark n.
- A lark that mounts and sings as it files, especially the common species (Alauda arvensis) found in Europe and in some parts of Asia, and celebrated for its melodious song; -- called also sky laverock.
- warily adv.
- In a wary manner.
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Song Spring 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, Song Spring, in Poems, Volume I (1851–1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1381, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/meredith-poems/song-spring.html, id L13159.
Form and metre
Song Spring is 9 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.0 syllables. 22% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABABB spreadA · laneB · redA · gainB · rainB
- 2 ABAB brideA · unseenB · hideA · greenB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| WHEN buds of palm do burst and spread | 8 | ········ |
| Their downy feathers in the lane, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And orchard blossoms, white and red, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Breathe Spring delight for Autumn gain; | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| And the skylark shakes his wings in the rain; | 10 | ··/······· |
| O then is the season to look for a bride! | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| Choose her warily, woo her unseen; | 9 | ··/˘˘··˘/ |
| For the choicest maids are those that hide | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| Like dewy violets under the green. | 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.