Another Spring
If I might see another SpringI'd not plant summer flowers and wait:I'd have my crocuses at once,My leafless pink mezereons,My chill-veined snowdrops, choicer yetMy white or azure violet,Leaf-nested primrose; anythingTo blow at once, not late.
If I might see another SpringI'd listen to the daylight birdsThat build their nests and pair and sing,Nor wait for mateless nightingale;I'd listen to the lusty herds,The ewes with lambs as white as snow,I'd find out music in the hailAnd all the winds that blow.
If I might see another Spring--Oh stinging comment on my pastThat all my past results in 'if'--If I might see another SpringI'd laugh to-day, to-day is brief;I would not wait for anything:I'd use to-day that cannot last,Be glad to-day and sing.
Words in this poem
- daylight n.
- The light of day as opposed to the darkness of night; the light of the sun, as opposed to that of the moon or to artificial light.
- mateless a.
- Having no mate. [Cf. Matchless.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Another Spring is in the public domain. This text is taken from Goblin Market, The Prince's Progress, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #16950; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Christina Rossetti, Another Spring, in Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-goblin-market/another-spring.html, id L04257.
Form and metre
Another Spring is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.7 syllables. 2 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 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 ABCC-BAB springA · waitB · onceC · mezereonsC · yet · violetB · anythingA · lateB
- 2 ABACBDCD springA · birdsB · singA · nightingaleC · herdsB · snowD · hailC · blowD
- 3 AB-A-ABA springA · pastB · if · springA · brief · anythingA · lastB · singA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| If I might see another Spring | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| I'd not plant summer flowers and wait: | 8 | ···/˘/·· |
| I'd have my crocuses at once, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| My leafless pink mezereons, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| My chill-veined snowdrops, choicer yet | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| My white or azure violet, | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| Leaf-nested primrose; anything | 8 | ·/˘/·/˘· |
| To blow at once, not late. | 6 | ······ |
| If I might see another Spring | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| I'd listen to the daylight birds | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| That build their nests and pair and sing, | 8 | ········ |
| Nor wait for mateless nightingale; | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| I'd listen to the lusty herds, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The ewes with lambs as white as snow, | 8 | ········ |
| I'd find out music in the hail | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And all the winds that blow. | 6 | ······ |
| If I might see another Spring-- | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Oh stinging comment on my past | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| That all my past results in 'if'-- | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| If I might see another Spring | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| I'd laugh to-day, to-day is brief; | 8 | ········ |
| I would not wait for anything: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I'd use to-day that cannot last, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Be glad to-day and sing. | 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.