Analysis of May Morning
Celia Thaxter 1835 (Portsmouth) – 1894 (Appledore Island)
WARM, wild, rainy wind, blowing fitfully,
Stirring dreamy breakers on the slumberous May sea,
What shall fail to answer thee? What thing shall withstand
The spell of thine enchantment, flowing over sea and land?
All along the swamp-edge in the rain I go;
All about my head thou the loosened locks dost blow;
Like the German goose-girl in the fairy tale,
I watch across the shining pool my flock of ducks that sail.
Redly gleam the rose-haws, dripping with the wet,
Fruit of sober autumn, glowing crimson yet;
Slender swords of iris leaves cut the water clear,
And light green creeps the tender grass, thick-spreading far and near.
Every last year’s stalk is set with brown or golden studs;
All the boughs of bayberry are thick with scented buds;
Islanded in turfy velvet, where the ferns uncurl,
Lo! the large white duck’s egg glimmers like a pearl!
Softly sing the billows, rushing, whispering low;
Freshly, oh, deliciously, the warm, wild wind doth blow!
Plaintive bleat of new-washed lambs comes faint from far away;
And clearly cry the little birds, alert and blithe and gay.
O happy, happy morning! O dear, familiar place!
O warm, sweet tears of Heaven, fast falling on my face!
O well-remembered, rainy wind, blow all my care away,
That I may be a child again this blissful morn of May.
Scheme | AABB CCDD EEFF GGAX CCHH IIHH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 1110110100 10101010111 111110111101 01110101010101 10101100111 101111010111 10101100101 11010101111111 1101110101 11101010101 101110110101 01110101110101 10011111111101 10111111101 101101011 10111110101 101010101001 1010100011111 1011111111101 01010101010101 1101010110101 1111110110111 11010101111101 11110101110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,285 |
Words | 226 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 42 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 169 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 37 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 16, 2023
- 1:07 min read
- 78 Views
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"May Morning" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 3 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/4859/may-morning>.
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