Three Seasons
'A cup for hope!' she said,In springtime ere the bloom was old:The crimson wine was poor and coldBy her mouth's richer red.
'A cup for love!' how low,How soft the words; and all the whileHer blush was rippling with a smileLike summer after snow.
'A cup for memory!'Cold cup that one must drain alone:While autumn winds are up and moanAcross the barren sea.
Hope, memory, love:Hope for fair morn, and love for day,And memory for the evening greyAnd solitary dove.
Words in this poem
- springtime n.
- The season of spring; springtide.
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Three Seasons 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, Three Seasons, in Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-goblin-market/three-seasons.html, id L04265.
Form and metre
Three Seasons is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABBA, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.9 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 31% 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 ABBA saidA · oldB · coldB · redA
- 2 ABBA lowA · whileB · smileB · snowA
- 3 -AA- memory · aloneA · moanA · sea
- 4 ABBA loveA · dayB · greyB · doveA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 'A cup for hope!' she said, | 6 | ······ |
| In springtime ere the bloom was old: | 8 | ·/······ |
| The crimson wine was poor and cold | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| By her mouth's richer red. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| 'A cup for love!' how low, | 6 | ······ |
| How soft the words; and all the while | 8 | ········ |
| Her blush was rippling with a smile | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Like summer after snow. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| 'A cup for memory!' | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Cold cup that one must drain alone: | 8 | ······˘/ |
| While autumn winds are up and moan | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Across the barren sea. | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| Hope, memory, love: | 5 | ·/˘˘· |
| Hope for fair morn, and love for day, | 8 | ········ |
| And memory for the evening grey | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And solitary dove. | 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.