Spring
Frost-locked all the winter,Seeds, and roots, and stones of fruits,What shall make their sap ascendThat they may put forth shoots?Tips of tender green,Leaf, or blade, or sheath;Telling of the hidden lifeThat breaks forth underneath,Life nursed in its grave by Death.
Blows the thaw-wind pleasantly,Drips the soaking rain,By fits looks down the waking sun:Young grass springs on the plain;Young leaves clothe early hedgerow trees;Seeds, and roots, and stones of fruits,Swollen with sap put forth their shoots;Curled-headed ferns sprout in the lane;Birds sing and pair again.
There is no time like Spring,When life's alive in everything,Before new nestlings sing,Before cleft swallows speed their journey backAlong the trackless track--God guides their wing,He spreads their table that they nothing lack,--Before the daisy grows a common flower,Before the sun has powerTo scorch the world up in his noontide hour.
There is no time like Spring,Like Spring that passes by;There is no life like Spring-life born to die,--Piercing the sod,Clothing the uncouth clod,Hatched in the nest,Fledged on the windy bough,Strong on the wing:There is no time like Spring that passes by,Now newly born, and nowHastening to die.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- thaw v. i.
- To melt, dissolve, or become fluid; to soften; -- said of that which is frozen; as, the ice thaws.
- pleasantly adv.
- In a pleasant manner.
- hedgerow n.
- A row of shrubs, or trees, planted for inclosure or separation of fields.
- trackless a.
- Having no track; marked by no footsteps; untrodden; as, a trackless desert.
- scorch v. t.
- To burn superficially; to parch, or shrivel, the surface of, by heat; to subject to so much heat as changes color and texture without consuming; as, to scorch linen. [OE. scorchen, probably akin to scorcnen; cf. Norw. skrokken shrunk up, skrekka, skrökka, to shrink, to become wrinkled up, dial. Sw. skråkkla to wrinkle (see Sh]
- noontide n.
- The time of noon; midday. [From noon + tide time; cf. AS. n the ninth hour.]
- clod n.
- A lump or mass, especially of earth, turf, or clay. [OE. clodde, latter form of clot. See Clot.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
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, Spring, in Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-goblin-market/spring.html, id L04246.
Form and metre
Spring is 39 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.8 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 13% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 -A-A-B-B- winter · fruitsA · ascend · shootsA · green · sheathB · life · underneathB · death
- 2 -A-A-BBAA pleasantly · rainA · sun · plainA · trees · fruitsB · shootsB · laneA · againA
- 3 AAABBABCCC springA · everythingA · singA · backB · trackB · wingA · lackB · flowerC · powerC · hourC
- 4 ABBCC-DABDB springA · byB · dieB · sodC · clodC · nest · boughD · wingA · byB · nowD · dieB
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Frost-locked all the winter, | 7 | ··˘··/˘ |
| Seeds, and roots, and stones of fruits, | 7 | ······· |
| What shall make their sap ascend | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| That they may put forth shoots? | 6 | ······ |
| Tips of tender green, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Leaf, or blade, or sheath; | 5 | ····· |
| Telling of the hidden life | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| That breaks forth underneath, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Life nursed in its grave by Death. | 8 | ··˘····· |
| Blows the thaw-wind pleasantly, | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| Drips the soaking rain, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| By fits looks down the waking sun: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Young grass springs on the plain; | 6 | ······ |
| Young leaves clothe early hedgerow trees; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Seeds, and roots, and stones of fruits, | 7 | ······· |
| Swollen with sap put forth their shoots; | 8 | /˘······ |
| Curled-headed ferns sprout in the lane; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Birds sing and pair again. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| There is no time like Spring, | 6 | ······ |
| When life's alive in everything, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Before new nestlings sing, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Before cleft swallows speed their journey back | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Along the trackless track-- | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| God guides their wing, | 4 | ···· |
| He spreads their table that they nothing lack,-- | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Before the daisy grows a common flower, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘/ |
| Before the sun has power | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| To scorch the world up in his noontide hour. | 10 | ·······/˘/ |
| There is no time like Spring, | 6 | ······ |
| Like Spring that passes by; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| There is no life like Spring-life born to die,-- | 10 | ·········· |
| Piercing the sod, | 4 | /˘·· |
| Clothing the uncouth clod, | 6 | /˘·//· |
| Hatched in the nest, | 4 | ···· |
| Fledged on the windy bough, | 7 | ·˘··/˘· |
| Strong on the wing: | 4 | ···· |
| There is no time like Spring that passes by, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Now newly born, and now | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Hastening to die. | 5 | /˘˘·· |
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.