April
If you had come away with meinto another statewe had been quiet together.But there the sun coming upout of the nothing beyond the lake wastoo low in the sky,there was too great a pushingagainst him,too much of sumac buds, pinkin the headwith the clear gum upon them,too many opening hearts oflilac leaves,too many, too many swollenlimp poplar tassels on thebare branches!It was too strong in the air.I had no rest against thatspringtime!The pounding of the hoofs on theraw sodsstayed with me half through the night.I awoke smiling but tired.
Words in this poem
- springtime n.
- The season of spring; springtide.
- stayed a.
- Staid; fixed; settled; sober; -- now written staid. See Staid.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
April is in the public domain. This text is taken from Sour Grapes: A Book of Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #35667; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Carlos Williams, April, in Sour Grapes (1921), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #35667, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/williams-sour-grapes/april.html, id L01148.
Form and metre
April is 23 lines in a single verse paragraph. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.1 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 56% 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-------------A----A--- meA · state · together · up · was · sky · pushing · him · pink · head · them · of · leaves · swollen · theA · branches · air · that · springtime · theA · sods · night · tired
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 |
|---|---|---|
| If you had come away with me | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| into another state | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| we had been quiet together. | 8 | ···/˘˘/˘ |
| But there the sun coming up | 7 | ····/˘· |
| out of the nothing beyond the lake was | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| too low in the sky, | 5 | ····· |
| there was too great a pushing | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| against him, | 3 | ··· |
| too much of sumac buds, pink | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| in the head | 3 | ··· |
| with the clear gum upon them, | 7 | ······· |
| too many opening hearts of | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘·· |
| lilac leaves, | 3 | /·· |
| too many, too many swollen | 8 | ·/˘·/˘/˘ |
| limp poplar tassels on the | 7 | ·/˘/˘·· |
| bare branches! | 3 | ·/˘ |
| It was too strong in the air. | 7 | ······· |
| I had no rest against that | 7 | ······· |
| springtime! | 2 | /· |
| The pounding of the hoofs on the | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| raw sods | 2 | ·· |
| stayed with me half through the night. | 7 | ······· |
| I awoke smiling but tired. | 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.