The Year Outgrows the Spring
The year outgrows the spring it thought so sweet,And clasps the summer with a new delight,Yet wearied, leaves her languors and her heatWhen cool-browed autumn dawns upon his sight.
The tree outgrows the bud's suggestive grace,And feels new pride in blossoms fully blown.But even this to deeper joy gives placeWhen bending boughs 'neath blushing burdens groan.
Life's rarest moments are derived from change.The heart outgrows old happiness, old grief,And suns itself in feelings new and strange;The most enduring pleasure is but brief.
Our tastes, our needs, are never twice the same.Nothing contents us long, however dear.The spirit in us, like the grosser frame,Outgrows the garments which it wore last year.
Change is the watchword of Progression. WhenWe tire of well-worn ways we seek for new.This restless craving in the souls of menSpurs them to climb, and seek the mountain view.
So let who will erect an altar shrineTo meek-browed Constancy, and sing her praise.Unto enlivening Change I shall build mine,Who lends new zest and interest to my days.
Words in this poem
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- zest n.
- A piece of orange or lemon peel, or the aromatic oil which may be squeezed from such peel, used to give flavor to liquor, etc. [F. zeste, probably fr. L. schistos split, cleft, divided, Gr. Schism.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Year Outgrows the Spring is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of Passion, Project Gutenberg ebook #16776; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Ella Wheeler Wilcox, The Year Outgrows the Spring, in Poems of Passion (1883), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16776, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wilcox-passion/the-year-outgrows-the-spring.html, id L22205.
Form and metre
The Year Outgrows the Spring is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABAB sweetA · delightB · heatA · sightB
- 2 ABAB graceA · blownB · placeA · groanB
- 3 ABAB changeA · griefB · strangeA · briefB
- 4 ABAB sameA · dearB · frameA · yearB
- 5 ABAB whenA · newB · menA · viewB
- 6 ABAB shrineA · praiseB · mineA · daysB
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The year outgrows the spring it thought so sweet, | 10 | ···/······ |
| And clasps the summer with a new delight, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Yet wearied, leaves her languors and her heat | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| When cool-browed autumn dawns upon his sight. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The tree outgrows the bud's suggestive grace, | 10 | ···/··˘/˘· |
| And feels new pride in blossoms fully blown. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| But even this to deeper joy gives place | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| When bending boughs 'neath blushing burdens groan. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Life's rarest moments are derived from change. | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/·· |
| The heart outgrows old happiness, old grief, | 10 | ···/·/˘˘·· |
| And suns itself in feelings new and strange; | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| The most enduring pleasure is but brief. | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| Our tastes, our needs, are never twice the same. | 10 | /·/··/˘··· |
| Nothing contents us long, however dear. | 10 | /˘/˘···/˘· |
| The spirit in us, like the grosser frame, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Outgrows the garments which it wore last year. | 10 | ·/·/˘····· |
| Change is the watchword of Progression. When | 10 | ···/··˘/˘· |
| We tire of well-worn ways we seek for new. | 10 | ·/········ |
| This restless craving in the souls of men | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Spurs them to climb, and seek the mountain view. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| So let who will erect an altar shrine | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| To meek-browed Constancy, and sing her praise. | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| Unto enlivening Change I shall build mine, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Who lends new zest and interest to my days. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
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.