At the Village Dance
Meadows bloom, in Winter's roomReign the Loves and Graces,With their gift of buds that liftBright and laughing faces;'Neath the ray of genial May,Shining, glowing, blushing, growing,They the joys of spring are showingIn their manifold array.
Song-birds sweet the season greet,Tune their merry voices;Sound the ways with hymns of praise,Every lane rejoices.On the bough in greenwood nowFlowers are springing, perfumes flinging,While young men and maids are clingingTo the loves they scarce avow.
O'er the grass together passBands of lads love-laden:Row by row in bevies goBride and blushing maiden.See with glee 'neath linden-tree,Where the dancing girls are glancing,How the matron is advancing!At her side her daughter see!
She's my own, for whom alone,If fate wills, I'll tarry;Young May-moon, or late or soon,'Tis with her I'd marry!Now with sighs I watch her rise,She the purely loved, the surelyChosen, who my heart securelyTurns from grief to Paradise.
In her sight with heaven's own lightLike the gods I blossom;Care for nought till she be broughtYielding to my bosom.Thirst divine my soul doth pineTo behold her and enfold her,With clasped arms alone to hold herIn Love's holy hidden shrine.
Words in this poem
- genial a.
- Contributing to, or concerned in, propagation or production; generative; procreative; productive. [L. genialis: cf. OF. genial. See Genius.]
- greenwood n.
- A forest as it appears is spring and summer.
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- avow v. t.
- To bind, or to devote, by a vow. Wyclif. [OF. avouer, fr. LL. votare to vow, fr. L. votun. See Vote, n.]
- glee n.
- Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
- glancing a.
- Shooting, as light.
- enfold v. t.
- To infold. See Infold.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
At the Village Dance is in the public domain. This text is taken from Wine, Women, and Song Mediaeval Latin Students' songs; Now first translated into English verse, Project Gutenberg ebook #18044; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Addington Symonds, At the Village Dance, in Wine, Women and Song (1884), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18044, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/symonds-wine-women/at-the-village-dance.html, id L11828.
Form and metre
At the Village Dance is 40 lines in 5 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.0 syllables. 18 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 32% 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 -A-ABCCB room · gracesA · lift · facesA · mayB · growingC · showingC · arrayB
- 2 -AAABCCB greet · voicesA · praiseA · rejoicesA · nowB · flingingC · clingingC · avowB
- 3 -A-ABCCB pass · ladenA · go · maidenA · treeB · glancingC · advancingC · seeB
- 4 -A-A-BB- alone · tarryA · soon · marryA · rise · surelyB · securelyB · paradise
- 5 ----ABBA light · blossom · brought · bosom · pineA · herB · herB · shrineA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Meadows bloom, in Winter's room | 7 | /···/˘· |
| Reign the Loves and Graces, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| With their gift of buds that lift | 7 | ······· |
| Bright and laughing faces; | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| 'Neath the ray of genial May, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Shining, glowing, blushing, growing, | 8 | /˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| They the joys of spring are showing | 8 | ······/˘ |
| In their manifold array. | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Song-birds sweet the season greet, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Tune their merry voices; | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Sound the ways with hymns of praise, | 7 | ······· |
| Every lane rejoices. | 7 | /˘˘·˘/˘ |
| On the bough in greenwood now | 7 | ····/·· |
| Flowers are springing, perfumes flinging, | 8 | /·/˘˘//˘ |
| While young men and maids are clinging | 8 | ······/˘ |
| To the loves they scarce avow. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| O'er the grass together pass | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| Bands of lads love-laden: | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Row by row in bevies go | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Bride and blushing maiden. | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| See with glee 'neath linden-tree, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Where the dancing girls are glancing, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| How the matron is advancing! | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| At her side her daughter see! | 7 | ····/˘· |
| She's my own, for whom alone, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| If fate wills, I'll tarry; | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Young May-moon, or late or soon, | 7 | ······· |
| 'Tis with her I'd marry! | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Now with sighs I watch her rise, | 7 | ······· |
| She the purely loved, the surely | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Chosen, who my heart securely | 8 | /˘···˘/˘ |
| Turns from grief to Paradise. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| In her sight with heaven's own light | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Like the gods I blossom; | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Care for nought till she be brought | 7 | ······· |
| Yielding to my bosom. | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| Thirst divine my soul doth pine | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| To behold her and enfold her, | 8 | ·˘/··˘/· |
| With clasped arms alone to hold her | 8 | ···˘/··· |
| In Love's holy hidden shrine. | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
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.