In July
His beauty bore no token,No sign our gladness shook;With tender strength unbrokenThe hand of Life he took:But the summer flowers were falling,Falling and fading away,And mother birds were calling,Crying and callingFor their loves that would not stay.
He knew not Autumn's chillness,Nor Winter's wind nor Spring's;He lived with Summer's stillnessAnd sun and sunlit things:But when the dusk was fallingHe went the shadowy way,And one more heart is calling,Crying and callingFor the love that would not stay.
Words in this poem
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- fading n.
- An Irish dance; also, the burden of a song.
- chillness n.
- Coolness; coldness; a chill.
- stillness n.
- The quality or state of being still; quietness; silence; calmness; inactivity.
- sunlit a.
- Lighted by the sun.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In July is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems: New and Old, Project Gutenberg ebook #24405; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry John Newbolt, In July, in Poems: New and Old (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #24405, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/newbolt-poems/in-july.html, id L11438.
Form and metre
In July is 18 lines in 2 stanzas of 9 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.7 syllables. 10 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 28% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See 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 ABAB-CDDC tokenA · shookB · unbrokenA · tookB · falling · awayC · callingD · callingD · stayC
- 2 ABAB-CDDC chillnessA · spring'sB · stillnessA · thingsB · falling · wayC · callingD · callingD · stayC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| His beauty bore no token, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| No sign our gladness shook; | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| With tender strength unbroken | 7 | ·/˘·˘/˘ |
| The hand of Life he took: | 6 | ······ |
| But the summer flowers were falling, | 9 | ··/˘/˘·/˘ |
| Falling and fading away, | 7 | /˘·/˘˘/ |
| And mother birds were calling, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Crying and calling | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| For their loves that would not stay. | 7 | ······· |
| He knew not Autumn's chillness, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Nor Winter's wind nor Spring's; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| He lived with Summer's stillness | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| And sun and sunlit things: | 6 | ···/·· |
| But when the dusk was falling | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| He went the shadowy way, | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| And one more heart is calling, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Crying and calling | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| For the love that would not stay. | 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.