Song (“The lintwhite and the throstlecock”)
The lintwhite and the throstlecockHave voices sweet and clear;All in the bloomed May.They from the blosmy brereCall to the fleeting year,If that he would them hearAnd stay. Alas! that one so beautifulShould have so dull an ear.
Fair year, fair year, thy children call,But thou art deaf as death;All in the bloomèd May.When thy light perishethThat from thee issueth,Our life evanisheth: Oh! stay.Alas! that lips so cruel-dumbShould have so sweet a breath!
Fair year, with brows of royal loveThou comest, as a king,All in the bloomèd May.Thy golden largess fling,And longer hear us sing;Though thou art fleet of wing,Yet stay. Alas! that eyes so full of lightShould be so wandering!
Thy locks are all of sunny sheenIn rings of gold yronne,All in the bloomèd May,We pri’thee pass not on;If thou dost leave the sun,Delight is with thee gone, Oh! stay.Thou art the fairest of thy feres,We pri’thee pass not on.
His crispè hair in ringis was yronne.— Chaucer, Knight’s Tale.(Tennyson’s note.)
Words in this poem
- largess n.
- Liberality; generosity; bounty. [F. largesse, fr. large. See Large, a.]
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- sheen v. i.
- To shine; to glisten.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Song (“The lintwhite and the throstlecock”) is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Early Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson, Project Gutenberg ebook #8601; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Alfred Tennyson, Song (“The lintwhite and the throstlecock”), in The Early Poems (1830–1842), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8601, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-early-poems/song-the-lintwhite-and-the-throstlecock.html, id L20765.
Form and metre
Song (“The lintwhite and the throstlecock”) is 34 lines in 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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--AA-A throstlecock · clearA · may · brere · yearA · hearA · beautiful · earA
- 2 -ABAAB-A call · deathA · mayB · perishethA · issuethA · stayB · dumb · breathA
- 3 -A-AAA-A love · kingA · may · flingA · singA · wingA · light · wanderingA
- 4 -ABA-B-A sheen · yronneA · mayB · onA · sun · stayB · feres · onA
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The lintwhite and the throstlecock | 8 | ········ |
| Have voices sweet and clear; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| All in the bloomed May. | 6 | ····˘· |
| They from the blosmy brere | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Call to the fleeting year, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| If that he would them hear | 6 | ······ |
| And stay. Alas! that one so beautiful | 9 | ··˘/···/˘ |
| Should have so dull an ear. | 6 | ······ |
| Fair year, fair year, thy children call, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But thou art deaf as death; | 6 | ······ |
| All in the bloomèd May. | 5 | ····· |
| When thy light perisheth | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| That from thee issueth, | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Our life evanisheth: Oh! stay. | 8 | /······· |
| Alas! that lips so cruel-dumb | 7 | ˘/···/· |
| Should have so sweet a breath! | 6 | ······ |
| Fair year, with brows of royal love | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Thou comest, as a king, | 6 | ······ |
| All in the bloomèd May. | 5 | ····· |
| Thy golden largess fling, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| And longer hear us sing; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Though thou art fleet of wing, | 6 | ······ |
| Yet stay. Alas! that eyes so full of light | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Should be so wandering! | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Thy locks are all of sunny sheen | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| In rings of gold yronne, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| All in the bloomèd May, | 5 | ····· |
| We pri’thee pass not on; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| If thou dost leave the sun, | 6 | ······ |
| Delight is with thee gone, Oh! stay. | 8 | ˘/······ |
| Thou art the fairest of thy feres, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| We pri’thee pass not on. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| His crispè hair in ringis was yronne.— Chaucer, Knight’s Tale. | 14 | ·······˘/˘/˘·· |
| (Tennyson’s note.) | 4 | /˘˘· |
Notes from the edition 1
John Churton Collins's introductions and notes to The Early Poems of Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1900; Project Gutenberg #8601). Note numbers restart with every poem; many of the notes quote variant readings from earlier printings rather than glossing a word.
- Stanza 4, line 2 His crispè hair in ringis was yronne.— Chaucer, Knight’s Tale. (Tennyson’s note.)
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