The Spring
See, the Spring herself discloses,And the Graces gather roses;See how the becalmed seasNow their swelling waves appease;How the duck swims; how the craneComes from 's winter home again;See how Titan's cheerful rayChaseth the dark clouds away!
Now in their new robes of greenAre the ploughman's labours seen;Now the lusty teeming earthSprings, each hour, with a new birth;Now the olive blooms; the vineNow cloth with plump pendants shine,And with leaves and blossoms nowFreshly bourgeons every bough.
Words in this poem
- teeming a.
- Prolific; productive.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Spring is in the public domain. This text is taken from Thomas Stanley: His Original Lyrics, Complete, In Their Collated Readings of 1647, 1651, 1657. With an Introduction, Textual Notes, a List of Editions, an Appendix of Translations, and a Portrait., Project Gutenberg ebook #32986; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Thomas Stanley, The Spring, in Original Lyrics (1651), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #32986, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/stanley-lyrics/the-spring.html, id L09004.
Form and metre
The Spring is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABBCCDD. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.3 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 44% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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 AABBCCDD disclosesA · rosesA · seasB · appeaseB · craneC · againC · rayD · awayD
- 2 AABBCCDD greenA · seenA · earthB · birthB · vineC · shineC · nowD · boughD
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| See, the Spring herself discloses, | 8 | ···˘/˘/˘ |
| And the Graces gather roses; | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| See how the becalmed seas | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| Now their swelling waves appease; | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| How the duck swims; how the crane | 7 | ······· |
| Comes from 's winter home again; | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| See how Titan's cheerful ray | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Chaseth the dark clouds away! | 7 | /˘···˘/ |
| Now in their new robes of green | 7 | ······· |
| Are the ploughman's labours seen; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Now the lusty teeming earth | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Springs, each hour, with a new birth; | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Now the olive blooms; the vine | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Now cloth with plump pendants shine, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And with leaves and blossoms now | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Freshly bourgeons every bough. | 8 | /˘··/˘˘· |
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.