Three Songs of Shattering II
Let the little birds sing;Let the little lambs play;Spring is here; and so 'tis spring;--But not in the old way!
I recall a placeWhere a plum-tree grew;There you lifted up your face,And blossoms covered you.
If the little birds sing,And the little lambs play,Spring is here; and so 'tis spring--But not in the old way!
About this text
Three Songs of Shattering II is in the public domain. This text is taken from Renascence, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #109; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edna St. Vincent Millay, Three Songs of Shattering II, in Renascence and Other Poems (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #109, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/millay-renascence/three-songs-of-shattering-ii.html, id L07732.
Form and metre
Three Songs of Shattering II is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is short measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.1 syllables. 8% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in short measure.
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 singA · playB · springA · wayB
- 2 ABAB placeA · grewB · faceA · youB
- 3 ABAB singA · playB · springA · wayB
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 short measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Let the little birds sing; | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Let the little lambs play; | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Spring is here; and so 'tis spring;-- | 7 | ······· |
| But not in the old way! | 6 | ······ |
| I recall a place | 5 | ·/··· |
| Where a plum-tree grew; | 5 | ····· |
| There you lifted up your face, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And blossoms covered you. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| If the little birds sing, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| And the little lambs play, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Spring is here; and so 'tis spring-- | 7 | ······· |
| But not in the old way! | 6 | ······ |
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.