May Wind
I said, "I have shut my heartAs one shuts an open door,That Love may starve thereinAnd trouble me no more."
But over the roofs there cameThe wet new wind of May,And a tune blew up from the curbWhere the street-pianos play.
My room was white with the sunAnd Love cried out in me,"I am strong, I will break your heartUnless you set me free."
About this text
May Wind is in the public domain. This text is taken from Love Songs, Project Gutenberg ebook #442; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Sara Teasdale, May Wind, in Love Songs (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #442, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/teasdale-love-songs/may-wind.html, id L08054.
Form and metre
May Wind is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.8 syllables. 50% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common measure.
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-A heart · doorA · therein · moreA
- 2 -A-A came · mayA · curb · playA
- 3 -A-A sun · meA · heart · freeA
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I said, "I have shut my heart | 7 | ······· |
| As one shuts an open door, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| That Love may starve therein | 6 | ······ |
| And trouble me no more." | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| But over the roofs there came | 7 | ······· |
| The wet new wind of May, | 6 | ······ |
| And a tune blew up from the curb | 8 | ········ |
| Where the street-pianos play. | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| My room was white with the sun | 7 | ······· |
| And Love cried out in me, | 6 | ······ |
| "I am strong, I will break your heart | 8 | ········ |
| Unless you set me free." | 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.