The Crocus
BENEATH the sunny autumn sky,With gold leaves dropping round,We sought, my little friend and I,The consecrated ground,Where, calm beneath the holy cross,O'ershadowed by sweet skies,Sleeps tranquilly that youthful form,Those blue unclouded eyes.
Around the soft, green swelling moundWe scooped the earth away,And buried deep the crocus-bulbsAgainst a coming day."These roots are dry, and brown, and sere;Why plant them here?" he said,"To leave them, all the winter long,So desolate and dead."
"Dear child, within each sere dead formThere sleeps a living flower,And angel-like it shall ariseIn spring's returning hour."Ah, deeper down--cold, dark, and chill--We buried our heart's flower,But angel-like shall he ariseIn spring's immortal hour.
In blue and yellow from its graveSprings up the crocus fair,And God shall raise those bright blue eyes,Those sunny waves of hair.Not for a fading summer's morn,Not for a fleeting hour,But for an endless age of bliss,Shall rise our heart's dear flower.
Words in this poem
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- tranquilly adv.
- In a tranquil manner; calmly.
- sere n.
- Claw; talon. Chapman. [F. serre.]
- 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,]
- fading n.
- An Irish dance; also, the burden of a song.
- 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
The Crocus is in the public domain. This text is taken from Religious Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #44778; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Harriet Beecher Stowe, The Crocus, in Religious Poems (1867), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #44778, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/stowe-religious-poems/the-crocus.html, id L22715.
Form and metre
The Crocus is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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 ABAB-C-C skyA · roundB · iA · groundB · cross · skiesC · form · eyesC
- 2 -A-A-B-B mound · awayA · bulbs · dayA · sere · saidB · long · deadB
- 3 -ABA-ABA form · flowerA · ariseB · hourA · chill · flowerA · ariseB · hourA
- 4 -A-A-B-B grave · fairA · eyes · hairA · morn · hourB · bliss · flowerB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| BENEATH the sunny autumn sky, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| With gold leaves dropping round, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| We sought, my little friend and I, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The consecrated ground, | 6 | ·/˘·˘· |
| Where, calm beneath the holy cross, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| O'ershadowed by sweet skies, | 6 | ······ |
| Sleeps tranquilly that youthful form, | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| Those blue unclouded eyes. | 6 | ······ |
| Around the soft, green swelling mound | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| We scooped the earth away, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| And buried deep the crocus-bulbs | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Against a coming day. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| "These roots are dry, and brown, and sere; | 8 | ········ |
| Why plant them here?" he said, | 6 | ······ |
| "To leave them, all the winter long, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| So desolate and dead." | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| "Dear child, within each sere dead form | 8 | ········ |
| There sleeps a living flower, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| And angel-like it shall arise | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| In spring's returning hour." | 7 | ··˘/˘/˘ |
| Ah, deeper down--cold, dark, and chill-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| We buried our heart's flower, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·/˘ |
| But angel-like shall he arise | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| In spring's immortal hour. | 7 | ··˘/˘/˘ |
| In blue and yellow from its grave | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Springs up the crocus fair, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And God shall raise those bright blue eyes, | 8 | ········ |
| Those sunny waves of hair. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Not for a fading summer's morn, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Not for a fleeting hour, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| But for an endless age of bliss, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Shall rise our heart's dear flower. | 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.