Autumn Violets
Keep love for youth, and violets for the spring:Of if these bloom when worn-out autumn grieves,Let them lie hid in double shade of leaves,Their own, and others dropped down withering;For violets suit when home birds build and sing,Not when the outbound bird a passage cleaves;Not with dry stubble of mown harvest sheaves,But when the green world buds to blossoming.Keep violets for the spring, and love for youth,Love that should dwell with beauty, mirth, and hope:Or if a later sadder love be born,Let this not look for grace beyond its scope,But give itself, nor plead for answering truth--A grateful Ruth tho' gleaning scanty corn.
Words in this poem
- withering a.
- Tending to wither; causing to shrink or fade.
- mown p. p.
- Cut down by mowing, as grass; deprived of grass by mowing; as, a mown field.
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- ruth n.
- Sorrow for the misery of another; pity; tenderness. [From Rue, v.: cf. Icel. hryggedh, hrygedh.]
- gleaning n.
- The act of gathering after reapers; that which is collected by gleaning.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Autumn Violets 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, Autumn Violets, in Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-goblin-market/autumn-violets.html, id L04355.
Form and metre
Autumn Violets is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACDEDCE. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
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 ABBAABBACDEDCE springA · grievesB · leavesB · witheringA · singA · cleavesB · sheavesB · blossomingA · youthC · hopeD · bornE · scopeD · truthC · cornE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Keep love for youth, and violets for the spring: | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Of if these bloom when worn-out autumn grieves, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Let them lie hid in double shade of leaves, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Their own, and others dropped down withering; | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| For violets suit when home birds build and sing, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Not when the outbound bird a passage cleaves; | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| Not with dry stubble of mown harvest sheaves, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| But when the green world buds to blossoming. | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Keep violets for the spring, and love for youth, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Love that should dwell with beauty, mirth, and hope: | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Or if a later sadder love be born, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Let this not look for grace beyond its scope, | 10 | ·········· |
| But give itself, nor plead for answering truth-- | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| A grateful Ruth tho' gleaning scanty corn. | 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.