The Example of the Rose
Winter's untruth yields at last,Spring renews old mother earth;Angry storms are overpast,Sunbeams fill the air with mirth;Pregnant, ripening unto birth,All the world reposes.
Our delightful month of May,Not by birth, but by degree,Took the first place, poets say;Since the whole year's cycle he,Youngest, loveliest, leads with glee,And the cycle closes.
From the honours of the roseThey decline, the rose abuse,Who, when roses red unclose,Seek not their own sweets to use;'Tis with largess, liberal dues,That the rose discloses.
Taught to wanton, taught to play,By the young year's wanton flower,We will take no heed to-day,Have no thought for thrift this hour;Thrift, whose uncongenial powerLaws on youth imposes.
Words in this poem
- untruth n.
- The quality of being untrue; contrariety to truth; want of veracity; also, treachery; faithlessness; disloyalty.
- angry a.
- Troublesome; vexatious; rigorous. [See Anger.]
- glee n.
- Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
- largess n.
- Liberality; generosity; bounty. [F. largesse, fr. large. See Large, a.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Example of the Rose 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, The Example of the Rose, in Wine, Women and Song (1884), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18044, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/symonds-wine-women/the-example-of-the-rose.html, id L11815.
Form and metre
The Example of the Rose is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is trochaic 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 7.0 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 8% 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 ABABB- lastA · earthB · overpastA · mirthB · birthB · reposes
- 2 ABABB- mayA · degreeB · sayA · heB · gleeB · closes
- 3 ABABBB roseA · abuseB · uncloseA · useB · duesB · disclosesB
- 4 ABABB- playA · flowerB · dayA · hourB · powerB · imposes
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Winter's untruth yields at last, | 7 | /˘˘/··· |
| Spring renews old mother earth; | 7 | ·˘/·/˘· |
| Angry storms are overpast, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Sunbeams fill the air with mirth; | 7 | /······ |
| Pregnant, ripening unto birth, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| All the world reposes. | 6 | ···/·˘ |
| Our delightful month of May, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Not by birth, but by degree, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Took the first place, poets say; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Since the whole year's cycle he, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Youngest, loveliest, leads with glee, | 8 | /˘······ |
| And the cycle closes. | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| From the honours of the rose | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| They decline, the rose abuse, | 7 | ·˘/··˘/ |
| Who, when roses red unclose, | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Seek not their own sweets to use; | 7 | ······· |
| 'Tis with largess, liberal dues, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| That the rose discloses. | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| Taught to wanton, taught to play, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| By the young year's wanton flower, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| We will take no heed to-day, | 7 | ······· |
| Have no thought for thrift this hour; | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Thrift, whose uncongenial power | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Laws on youth imposes. | 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.