The Green Linnet
Beneath these fruit-tree boughs that shedTheir snow white blossoms on my head,With brightest sunshine round me spreadOf spring's unclouded weather,In this sequestered nook how sweetTo sit upon my orchard-seat!And birds and flowers once more to greet,My last year's friends together.
One have I marked, the happiest guestIn all this covert of the blest:Hail to Thee, far above the restIn joy of voice and pinion!Thou, Linnet! in thy green array,Presiding Spirit here to-day,Dost lead the revels of the May;And this is thy dominion.
While birds, and butterflies, and flowers,Make all one band of paramours,Thou, ranging up and down the bowers,Art sole in thy employment:A Life, a Presence like the Air,Scattering thy gladness without care,Too blest with any one to pair;Thyself thy own enjoyment.
Amid yon tuft of hazel trees,That twinkle to the gusty breeze,Behold him perched in ecstacies,Yet seeming still to hover;There! where the flutter of his wingsUpon his back and body flingsShadows and sunny glimmerings,That cover him all over.
My dazzled sight he oft deceives,A Brother of the dancing leaves;Then flits, and from the cottage-eavesPours forth his song in gushes;As if by that exulting strainHe mocked and treated with disdainThe voiceless Form he chose to feign,While fluttering in the bushes.
Words in this poem
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
- nook n.
- A narrow place formed by an angle in bodies or between bodies; a corner; a recess; a secluded retreat. [OE. nok; cf. Gael. & Ir. niuc.]
- pinion n.
- A moth of the genus Lithophane, as L. antennata, whose larva bores large holes in young peaches and apples.
- paramours adv.
- By or with love, esp. the love of the sexes; -- sometimes written as two words.
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- twinkle v. i.
- To open and shut the eye rapidly; to blink; to wink. [OE. twinklen, AS. twinclian; akin to OE. twinken to blink, wink, G. zwinken, zwinkern, and perhaps to E. twitch.]
- gusty a.
- Subject to, or characterized by, gusts or squalls; windy; stormy; tempestuous.
- hover n.
- A cover; a shelter; a protection. Carew. C. Kingsley. [Etymol. doubtful.]
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- exulting a.
- Rejoicing triumphantly or exceedingly; exultant.
- voiceless a.
- Having no voice, utterance, or vote; silent; mute; dumb.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Green Linnet is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 2 (of 8), Project Gutenberg ebook #12145; 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 Wordsworth, The Green Linnet, in The Brothers, and Other Poems (1798–1807), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12145, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wordsworth-vol2/the-green-linnet.html, id L17377.
Form and metre
The Green Linnet is 40 lines in 5 stanzas of 8 lines each. The commonest rhyme scheme is AAABCCCB, in 2 of the 5 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 12 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% 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 AAABCCCB shedA · headA · spreadA · weatherB · sweetC · seatC · greetC · togetherB
- 2 AAABCCCB guestA · blestA · restA · pinionB · arrayC · dayC · mayC · dominionB
- 3 A-ABCCCB flowersA · paramours · bowersA · employmentB · airC · careC · pairC · enjoymentB
- 4 AA--BBB- treesA · breezeA · ecstacies · hover · wingsB · flingsB · glimmeringsB · over
- 5 AAA-BBB- deceivesA · leavesA · eavesA · gushes · strainB · disdainB · feignB · bushes
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Beneath these fruit-tree boughs that shed | 8 | ········ |
| Their snow white blossoms on my head, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| With brightest sunshine round me spread | 8 | ·/˘/···· |
| Of spring's unclouded weather, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| In this sequestered nook how sweet | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| To sit upon my orchard-seat! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And birds and flowers once more to greet, | 8 | ···/···· |
| My last year's friends together. | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| One have I marked, the happiest guest | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| In all this covert of the blest: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Hail to Thee, far above the rest | 8 | ········ |
| In joy of voice and pinion! | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Thou, Linnet! in thy green array, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Presiding Spirit here to-day, | 8 | ˘/˘/˘··· |
| Dost lead the revels of the May; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And this is thy dominion. | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| While birds, and butterflies, and flowers, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Make all one band of paramours, | 8 | ········ |
| Thou, ranging up and down the bowers, | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Art sole in thy employment: | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| A Life, a Presence like the Air, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Scattering thy gladness without care, | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Too blest with any one to pair; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Thyself thy own enjoyment. | 7 | ˘/··˘/˘ |
| Amid yon tuft of hazel trees, | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| That twinkle to the gusty breeze, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Behold him perched in ecstacies, | 8 | ˘/··˘··· |
| Yet seeming still to hover; | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| There! where the flutter of his wings | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Upon his back and body flings | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Shadows and sunny glimmerings, | 8 | /··/˘/˘˘ |
| That cover him all over. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| My dazzled sight he oft deceives, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| A Brother of the dancing leaves; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Then flits, and from the cottage-eaves | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Pours forth his song in gushes; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| As if by that exulting strain | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| He mocked and treated with disdain | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| The voiceless Form he chose to feign, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| While fluttering in the bushes. | 8 | ·/˘˘··/˘ |
On this poem
Composed in the orchard, Town-end, Grasmere, where the bird was often seen as here described.
Notes from the edition 4
William Knight's notes to The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, Volume 2 (1896; Project Gutenberg #12145): Wordsworth's own Isabella Fenwick notes and Knight's headnotes on composition and publication, plus his lettered footnotes (restarting at A for every poem).
- Stanza 1, line 8 1827. The May is come again:--how sweet To sit upon my Orchard-seat! And Birds and Flowers once more to greet, My last year's Friends together: My thoughts they all by turns employ; A whispering Leaf is now my joy, And then a Bird will be the toy That doth my fancy tether. 1807. And Flowers and Birds once more to greet, 1815. The text of 1815 is otherwise identical with that of 1827.
- Stanza 4, line 1 1845. Upon ... 1807.
- Stanza 5, line 4 1845. While thus before my eyes he gleams, A Brother of the Leaves he seems; When in a moment forth he teems His little song in gushes: 1807. My sight he dazzles, half deceives, A Bird so like the dancing Leaves; Then flits, and from the Cottage eaves Pours forth his song in gushes; 1827. My dazzled sight the Bird deceives, A Brother of the dancing Leaves; 1832. The Bird my dazzled sight deceives, 1840. The Bird my dazzling sight deceives C.
- Stanza 5, line 8 1827. As if it pleas'd him to disdain And mock the Form which he did feign, While he was dancing with the train Of Leaves among the bushes. 1807. The voiceless Form he chose to feign, 1820.
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