Poems
Tossing his mane of snows in wildest eddies and tangles,Lion-like March cometh in, hoarse, with tempestuous breath,Through all the moaning chimneys, and ’thwart all the hollows and anglesRound the shuddering house, threating of winter and death.
But in my heart I feel the life of the wood and the meadowThrilling the pulses that own kindred with fibres that liftBud and blade to the sunward, within the inscrutable shadow,Deep in the oak’s chill core, under the gathering drift.
Nay, to earth’s life in mine some prescience, or dream, or desire(How shall I name it aright?) comes for a moment and goes--Rapture of life ineffable, perfect--as if in the brier,Leafless there by my door, trembled a sense of the rose.
Words in this poem
- thrilling a.
- Causing a thrill; causing tremulous excitement; deeply moving; as, a thrilling romance.
- sunward adv.
- Toward the sun.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- aright adv.
- Rightly; correctly; in a right way or form; without mistake or crime; as, to worship God aright. [Pref. a- + right.]
- brier n.
- A plant with a slender woody stem bearing stout prickles; especially, species of Rosa, Rubus, and Smilax. [OE. brere, brer, AS. brer, brær; cf. Ir. briar prickle, thorn, brier, pin, Gael. preas bush, brier, W. prys, prysg.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Poems is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1900, Project Gutenberg ebook #66619; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Dean Howells, Poems, text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-william-dean-howells/earliest-spring.html, id L16252.
Form and metre
Earliest Spring is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is dactylic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 71%). 73% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 14.5 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 33% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in dactylic 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 ABAB tanglesA · breathB · anglesA · deathB
- 2 ABAB meadowA · liftB · shadowA · driftB
- 3 ABAB desireA · goesB · brierA · roseB
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 dactylic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Tossing his mane of snows in wildest eddies and tangles, | 14 | /˘·····/˘/˘·/˘ |
| Lion-like March cometh in, hoarse, with tempestuous breath, | 14 | /˘··/˘····/˘˘· |
| Through all the moaning chimneys, and ’thwart all the hollows and angles | 16 | ···/˘/˘····/˘·/˘ |
| Round the shuddering house, threating of winter and death. | 13 | ··/˘˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| But in my heart I feel the life of the wood and the meadow | 15 | ·············/· |
| Thrilling the pulses that own kindred with fibres that lift | 14 | /˘·/˘··/˘·/˘·· |
| Bud and blade to the sunward, within the inscrutable shadow, | 16 | ·····/˘···˘/˘˘/· |
| Deep in the oak’s chill core, under the gathering drift. | 13 | ·········/˘˘· |
| Nay, to earth’s life in mine some prescience, or dream, or desire | 16 | ·······/˘˘···˘/˘ |
| (How shall I name it aright?) comes for a moment and goes-- | 14 | ·····˘/···/˘·· |
| Rapture of life ineffable, perfect--as if in the brier, | 16 | /˘··˘/˘˘˘/····/˘ |
| Leafless there by my door, trembled a sense of the rose. | 13 | /˘····/˘····· |
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.