Spring, 1916
Slow, rigid, is this masqueradeThat passes as through a difficult air:Heavily—heavily passes.What has she fed on? Who her table laidThrough the three seasons? What forbidden fareRuined her as a mortal lass is?
I played with her two years ago,Who might be now her own sister in stone;So altered from her May mien,When round the pink a necklace of warm snowLaughed to her throat where my mouth’s touch had gone.How is this, ruined Queen?
Who lured her vivid beauty soTo be that strained chill thing that movesSo ghastly midst her young broodOf pregnant shoots that she for men did grow?Where are the strong men who made these their loves?Spring! God pity your mood!
Words in this poem
- lass n.
- A youth woman; a girl; a sweetheart. [OE. lasse; prob. of Celtic origin; cf. W. llodes girl, fem. of llawd lad. (Lad a youth.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Spring, 1916 is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems by Isaac Rosenberg, Project Gutenberg ebook #66889; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Isaac Rosenberg, Spring, 1916, in Poems (1922), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66889, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rosenberg-poems/spring-1916.html, id L02488.
Form and metre
Spring, 1916 is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 78%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.4 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 39% 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 ABCABC masqueradeA · airB · passesC · laidA · fareB · isC
- 2 A-BA-B agoA · stone · mienB · snowA · gone · queenB
- 3 A-BA-B soA · moves · broodB · growA · loves · moodB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Slow, rigid, is this masquerade | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| That passes as through a difficult air: | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| Heavily—heavily passes. | 7 | /˘/˘˘/˘ |
| What has she fed on? Who her table laid | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Through the three seasons? What forbidden fare | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| Ruined her as a mortal lass is? | 9 | /˘···/˘·· |
| I played with her two years ago, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Who might be now her own sister in stone; | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| So altered from her May mien, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| When round the pink a necklace of warm snow | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Laughed to her throat where my mouth’s touch had gone. | 10 | ·········· |
| How is this, ruined Queen? | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Who lured her vivid beauty so | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| To be that strained chill thing that moves | 8 | ········ |
| So ghastly midst her young brood | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Of pregnant shoots that she for men did grow? | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Where are the strong men who made these their loves? | 10 | ·········· |
| Spring! God pity your mood! | 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.