The First Flowers Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCD AEFE CGDG HICJ FKGL MNON GMPM CQRQ AISI TUVU WXXX WYXY| For ages on our river borders | A |
| These tassels in their tawny bloom | B |
| And willowy studs of downy silver | C |
| Have prophesied of Spring to come | D |
| - | |
| For ages have the unbound waters | A |
| Smiled on them from their pebbly hem | E |
| And the clear carol of the robin | F |
| And song of bluebird welcomed them | E |
| - | |
| But never yet from smiling river | C |
| Or song of early bird have they | G |
| Been greeted with a gladder welcome | D |
| Than whispers from my heart to day | G |
| - | |
| They break the spell of cold and darkness | H |
| The weary watch of sleepless pain | I |
| And from my heart as from the river | C |
| The ice of winter melts again | J |
| - | |
| Thanks Mary for this wild wood token | F |
| Of Freya's footsteps drawing near | K |
| Almost as in the rune of Asgard | G |
| The growing of the grass I hear | L |
| - | |
| It is as if the pine trees called me | M |
| From ceiled room and silent books | N |
| To see the dance of woodland shadows | O |
| And hear the song of April brooks | N |
| - | |
| As in the old Teutonic ballad | G |
| Of Odenwald live bird and tree | M |
| Together live in bloom and music | P |
| I blend in song thy flowers and thee | M |
| - | |
| Earth's rocky tablets bear forever | C |
| The dint of rain and small bird's track | Q |
| Who knows but that my idle verses | R |
| May leave some trace by Merrimac | Q |
| - | |
| The bird that trod the mellow layers | A |
| Of the young earth is sought in vain | I |
| The cloud is gone that wove the sandstone | S |
| From God's design with threads of rain | I |
| - | |
| So when this fluid age we live in | T |
| Shall stiffen round my careless rhyme | U |
| Who made the vagrant tracks may puzzle | V |
| The savants of the coming time | U |
| - | |
| And following out their dim suggestions | W |
| Some idly curious hand may draw | X |
| My doubtful portraiture as Cuvier | X |
| Drew fish and bird from fin and claw | X |
| - | |
| And maidens in the far off twilights | W |
| Singing my words to breeze and stream | Y |
| Shall wonder if the old time Mary | X |
| Were real or the rhymer's dream | Y |
John Greenleaf Whittier
(1)
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