The Bud
Lately on yonder swelling bush,Big with many a coming rose,This early bud began to blush,And did but half itself disclose;I pluck'd it, though no better grown,And now you see how full 'tis blown.
Still as I did the leaves inspire,With such a purple light they shone,As if they had been made of fire,And spreading so, would flame anon.All that was meant by air or sun,To the young flower, my breath has done.
If our loose breath so much can do,What may the same in forms of love,Of purest love, and music too,When Flavia it aspires to move?When that, which lifeless buds persuadesTo wax more soft, her youth invades?
Words in this poem
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
- anon adv.
- Straightway; at once. [OE. anoon, anon, anan, lit., in one (moment), fr. AS. on in + an one. See On and One.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Bud is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poetical Works of Edmund Waller and Sir John Denham, Project Gutenberg ebook #12322; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edmund Waller, The Bud, in Poetical Works (1645–1668), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/waller-denham/the-bud.html, id L09048.
Form and metre
The Bud is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.3 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 6% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 -A-ABB bush · roseA · blush · discloseA · grownB · blownB
- 2 A-A-BB inspireA · shone · fireA · anon · sunB · doneB
- 3 ABABCC doA · loveB · tooA · moveB · persuadesC · invadesC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Lately on yonder swelling bush, | 8 | /˘·/˘/˘· |
| Big with many a coming rose, | 8 | ··/˘·/˘· |
| This early bud began to blush, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| And did but half itself disclose; | 8 | ····˘/˘/ |
| I pluck'd it, though no better grown, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And now you see how full 'tis blown. | 8 | ········ |
| Still as I did the leaves inspire, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| With such a purple light they shone, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| As if they had been made of fire, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| And spreading so, would flame anon. | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| All that was meant by air or sun, | 8 | ········ |
| To the young flower, my breath has done. | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| If our loose breath so much can do, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| What may the same in forms of love, | 8 | ········ |
| Of purest love, and music too, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| When Flavia it aspires to move? | 10 | ·/˘˘·˘/˘·· |
| When that, which lifeless buds persuades | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| To wax more soft, her youth invades? | 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.