In April
Again the woods are odorous, the larkLifts on upsoaring wings the heaven grayThat hung above the tree-tops, veiled and dark,Where branches bare disclosed the empty day.
After long rainy afternoons an hourComes with its shafts of golden light and flingsThem at the windows in a radiant shower,And rain drops beat the panes like timorous wings.
Then all is still. The stones are crooned to sleepBy the soft sound of rain that slowly dies;And cradled in the branches, hidden deepIn each bright bud, a slumbering silence lies.
Words in this poem
- veiled a.
- Covered by, or as by, a veil; hidden.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In April is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, translated by Jessie Lemont, with an introduction by H.T. (New York: Tobias A. Wright, 1918), Project Gutenberg ebook #38594, the Jessie Lemont translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Rainer Maria Rilke, In April, in Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #38594, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rilke-poems-lemont/in-april.html, id L27740.
Form and metre
In April is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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 ABAB larkA · grayB · darkA · dayB
- 2 ABAB hourA · flingsB · showerA · wingsB
- 3 ABAB sleepA · diesB · deepA · liesB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Again the woods are odorous, the lark | 10 | ˘/···/˘˘·· |
| Lifts on upsoaring wings the heaven gray | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| That hung above the tree-tops, veiled and dark, | 10 | ·········· |
| Where branches bare disclosed the empty day. | 10 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘· |
| After long rainy afternoons an hour | 11 | ···/˘·˘/·/˘ |
| Comes with its shafts of golden light and flings | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Them at the windows in a radiant shower, | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| And rain drops beat the panes like timorous wings. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Then all is still. The stones are crooned to sleep | 10 | ·········· |
| By the soft sound of rain that slowly dies; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And cradled in the branches, hidden deep | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| In each bright bud, a slumbering silence lies. | 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.