Primrose
Yellow, yellow, yellow, yellow!It is not a color.It is summer!It is the wind on a willow,the lap of waves, the shadowunder a bush, a bird, a bluebird,three herons, a dead hawkrotting on a pole--Clear yellow!It is a piece of blue paperin the grass or a threecluster ofgreen walnuts swaying, childrenplaying croquet or one boyfishing, a manswinging his pink fistsas he walks--It is ladysthumb, forgetmenotsin the ditch, moss underthe flange of the carrail, thewavy lines in split rock, agreat oaktree--It is a disinclination to befive red petals or a rose, it isa cluster of birdsbreast flowerson a red stem six feet high,four open yellow petalsabove sepals curledbackward into reverse spikes--Tufts of purple grass spot thegreen meadow and clouds the sky.
Words in this poem
- bluebird n.
- A small song bird (Sialia sialis), very common in the United States, and, in the north, one of the earliest to arrive in spring.
- croquet n.
- An open-air game in which two or more players endeavor to drive wooden balls, by means of mallets, through a series of hoops or arches set in the ground according to some pattern. [From French; cf. Walloon croque blow, fillip. F. croquet a crisp biscuit, croquer to crunch, fr. croc a crackling sound, of imitative origin. Croquet then prope]
- disinclination n.
- The state of being disinclined; want of propensity, desire, or affection; slight aversion or dislike; indisposition.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Primrose 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, Primrose, in Sour Grapes (1921), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #35667, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/williams-sour-grapes/primrose.html, id L01173.
Form and metre
Primrose is 30 lines in a single stanza. The metre is trochaic 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 6.6 syllables. 8 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 60% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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--BB---A--C-C----DDEEFFG---DG yellowA · color · summer · willowB · shadowB · bluebird · hawk · pole · yellowA · paper · of · childrenC · boy · manC · fists · walks · forgetmenots · under · theD · aD · oaktreeE · beE · isF · flowersF · highG · petals · curled · spikes · theD · skyG
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow, yellow, yellow, yellow! | 8 | /˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| It is not a color. | 6 | ····/˘ |
| It is summer! | 4 | ··/˘ |
| It is the wind on a willow, | 8 | ······/· |
| the lap of waves, the shadow | 7 | ·····/· |
| under a bush, a bird, a bluebird, | 9 | ·······/· |
| three herons, a dead hawk | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| rotting on a pole-- | 5 | /˘··· |
| Clear yellow! | 3 | ·/˘ |
| It is a piece of blue paper | 8 | ······/˘ |
| in the grass or a threecluster of | 9 | ········· |
| green walnuts swaying, children | 7 | ·/·/˘/˘ |
| playing croquet or one boy | 7 | /˘˘/··· |
| fishing, a man | 4 | /˘·· |
| swinging his pink fists | 5 | /˘··· |
| as he walks-- | 3 | ··· |
| It is ladysthumb, forgetmenots | 9 | ········· |
| in the ditch, moss under | 6 | ······ |
| the flange of the carrail, the | 7 | ······· |
| wavy lines in split rock, a | 7 | /˘····· |
| great oaktree-- | 3 | ··· |
| It is a disinclination to be | 10 | ···˘˘˘/˘·· |
| five red petals or a rose, it is | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| a cluster of birdsbreast flowers | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| on a red stem six feet high, | 7 | ······· |
| four open yellow petals | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| above sepals curled | 5 | ····· |
| backward into reverse spikes-- | 7 | /˘··˘/· |
| Tufts of purple grass spot the | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| green meadow and clouds the sky. | 7 | ·/····· |
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.