May-day Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABBCDEFGEFHIHIJKLML LNLNLLOOPQQRSTUEVWWV LLXXLLEEEEELEL ALAFFELYLYWEW ELEWSZWLLA2MA2MLLB2C 2B2C2LLLLA2A2 LELLE D2OD2OE2F2LLLLLLLFLG 2LLLH2I2J2K2J2H2LLLH 2I2 AFAFL2M2L2M2AN2N2LLB 2O2LLAAL LLLM2P2LEM2EQ2Q2LLRR I2I2R2R2P2P2 S2T2U2U2LLV2V2LL LLV2V2V2V2V2V2W2W2V2 V2X2X2LLV2V2V2V2Y2Y2 LLLLV2Z2Z2A3A3 LLV2V2EEV2V2V2B3V2V2 C3V2D3E3C3LLV2V2F3F3 S2S2 V2V2G3V2L

Daughter of Heaven and Earth coy SpringA
With sudden passion languishingA
Maketh all things softly smileB
Painteth pictures mile on mileB
Holds a cup with cowslip wreathsC
Whence a smokeless incense breathesD
Girls are peeling the sweet willowE
Poplar white and Gilead treeF
And troops of boysG
Shouting with whoop and hilloaE
And hip hip three times threeF
The air is full of whistlings blandH
What was that I heardI
Out of the hazy landH
Harp of the wind or song of birdI
Or clapping of shepherd's handsJ
Or vagrant booming of the airK
Voice of a meteor lost in dayL
Such tidings of the starry sphereM
Can this elastic air conveyL
Or haply 't was the cannonadeL
Of the pent and darkened lakeN
Cooled by the pendent mountain's shadeL
Whose deeps till beams of noonday breakN
Afflicted moan and latest holdL
Even unto May the iceberg coldL
Was it a squirrel's pettish barkO
Or clarionet of jay or harkO
Where yon wedged line the Nestor leadsP
Steering north with raucous cryQ
Through tracts and provinces of skyQ
Every night alighting downR
In new landscapes of romanceS
Where darkling feed the clamorous clansT
By lonely lakes to men unknownU
Come the tumult whence it willE
Voice of sport or rush of wingsV
It is a sound it is a tokenW
That the marble sleep is brokenW
And a change has passed on thingsV
-
Beneath the calm within the lightL
A hid unruly appetiteL
Of swifter life a surer hopeX
Strains every sense to larger scopeX
Impatient to anticipateL
The halting steps of aged FateL
Slow grows the palm too slow the pearlE
When Nature falters fain would zealE
Grasp the felloes of her wheelE
And grasping give the orbs another whirlE
Turn swiftlier round O tardy ballE
And sun this frozen sideL
Bring hither back the robin's callE
Bring back the tulip's prideL
-
Why chidest thou the tardy SpringA
The hardy bunting does not chideL
The blackbirds make the maples ringA
With social cheer and jubileeF
The redwing flutes his o ka leeF
The robins know the melting snowE
The sparrow meek prophetic eyedL
Her nest beside the snow drift weavesY
Secure the osier yet will hideL
Her callow brood in mantling leavesY
And thou by science all undoneW
Why only must thy reason failE
To see the southing of the sunW
-
As we thaw frozen flesh with snowE
So Spring will not foolish fondL
Mix polar night with tropic glowE
Nor cloy us with unshaded sunW
Nor wanton skip with bacchic danceS
But she has the temperanceZ
Of the gods whereof she is oneW
Masks her treasury of heatL
Under east winds crossed with sleetL
Plants and birds and humble creaturesA2
Well accept her rule austereM
Titan born to hardy naturesA2
Cold is genial and dearM
As Southern wrath to Northern rightL
Is but straw to anthraciteL
As in the day of sacrificeB2
When heroes piled the pyreC2
The dismal Massachusetts iceB2
Burned more than others' fireC2
So Spring guards with surface coldL
The garnered heat of ages oldL
Hers to sow the seed of breadL
That man and all the kinds be fedL
And when the sunlight fills the hoursA2
Dissolves the crust displays the flowersA2
-
The world rolls round mistrust it notL
Befalls again what once befellE
All things return both sphere and moteL
And I shall hear my bluebird's noteL
And dream the dream of Auburn dellE
-
When late I walked in earlier daysD2
All was stiff and starkO
Knee deep snows choked all the waysD2
In the sky no sparkO
Firm braced I sought my ancient woodsE2
Struggling through the drifted roadsF2
The whited desert knew me notL
Snow ridges masked each darling spotL
The summer dells by genius hauntedL
One arctic moon had disenchantedL
All the sweet secrets therein hidL
By Fancy ghastly spells undidL
Eldest mason Frost had piledL
With wicked ingenuityF
Swift cathedrals in the wildL
The piny hosts were sheeted ghostsG2
In the star lit minster aisledL
I found no joy the icy windL
Might rule the forest to his mindL
Who would freeze in frozen brakesH2
Back to books and sheltered homeI2
And wood fire flickering on the wallsJ2
To hear when 'mid our talk and gamesK2
Without the baffled north wind callsJ2
But soft a sultry morning breaksH2
The cowslips make the brown brook gayL
A happier hour a longer dayL
Now the sun leads in the MayL
Now desire of action wakesH2
And the wish to roamI2
-
The caged linnet in the SpringA
Hearkens for the choral gleeF
When his fellows on the wingA
Migrate from the Southern SeaF
When trellised grapes their flowers unmaskL2
And the new born tendrils twineM2
The old wine darkling in the caskL2
Feels the bloom on the living vineM2
And bursts the hoops at hint of SpringA
And so perchance in Adam's raceN2
Of Eden's bower some dream like traceN2
Survived the Flight and swam the FloodL
And wakes the wish in youngest bloodL
To tread the forfeit ParadiseB2
And feed once more the exile's eyesO2
And ever when the happy childL
In May beholds the blooming wildL
And hears in heaven the bluebird singA
'Onward ' he cries 'your baskets bringA
In the next field is air more mildL
And o'er yon hazy crest is Eden's balmier Spring '-
-
Not for a regiment's paradeL
Nor evil laws or rulers madeL
Blue Walden rolls its cannonadeL
But for a lofty signM2
Which the Zodiac threwP2
That the bondage days are toldL
And waters free as winds shall flowE
Lo how all the tribes combineM2
To rout the flying foeE
See every patriot oak leaf throwsQ2
His elfin length upon the snowsQ2
Not idle since the leaf all dayL
Draws to the spot the solar rayL
Ere sunset quarrying inches downR
And half way to the mosses brownR
While the grass beneath the rimeI2
Has hints of the propitious timeI2
And upward pries and perforatesR2
Through the cold slab a thousand gatesR2
Till green lances peering throughP2
Bend happy in the welkin blueP2
-
April cold with dropping rainS2
Willows and lilacs brings againT2
The whistle of returning birdsU2
And trumpet lowing of the herdsU2
The scarlet maple keys betrayL
What potent blood hath modest MayL
What fiery force the earth renewsV2
The wealth of forms the flush of huesV2
Joy shed in rosy waves abroadL
Flows from the heart of Love the LordL
-
Hither rolls the storm of heatL
I feel its finer billows beatL
Like a sea which me infoldsV2
Heat with viewless fingers mouldsV2
Swells and mellows and maturesV2
Paints and flavours and alluresV2
Bird and brier inly warmsV2
Still enriches and transformsV2
Gives the reed and lily lengthW2
Adds to oak and oxen strengthW2
Boils the world in tepid lakesV2
Burns the world yet burnt remakesV2
Enveloping heat enchanted robeX2
Wraps the daisy and the globeX2
Transforming what it doth infoldL
Life out of death new out of oldL
Painting fawns' and leopards' fellsV2
Seethes the gulf encrimsoning shellsV2
Fires garden with a joyful blazeV2
Of tulips in the morning's raysV2
The dead log touched bursts into leafY2
The wheat blade whispers of the sheafY2
What god is this imperial HeatL
Earth's prime secret sculpture's seatL
Doth it bear hidden in its heartL
Water line patterns of all artL
All figures organs hues and gracesV2
Is it Daedalus is it LoveZ2
Or walks in mask almighty JoveZ2
And drops from Power's redundant hornA3
All seeds of beauty to be bornA3
-
Where shall we keep the holidayL
And duly greet the entering MayL
Too strait and low our cottage doorsV2
And all unmeet our carpet floorsV2
Nor spacious court nor monarch's hallE
Suffice to hold the festivalE
Up and away where haughty woodsV2
Front the liberated floodsV2
We will climb the broad backed hillsV2
Hear the uproar of their joyB3
We will mark the leaps and gleamsV2
Of the new delivered streamsV2
And the murmuring rivers of sapC3
Mount in the pipes of the treesV2
Giddy with day to the topmost spireD3
Which for a spike of tender greenE3
Bartered its powdery capC3
And the colours of joy in the birdL
And the love in its carol heardL
Frog and lizard in holiday coatsV2
And turtle brave in his golden spotsV2
We will hear the tiny roarF3
Of the insects evermoreF3
While cheerful cries of crag and plainS2
Reply to the thunder of river and mainS2
-
As poured the flood of the ancient seaV2
Spilling over mountain chainsV2
Bending forests as bends the sedgeG3
Faster flowing o'er the plainsV2
A worldL

Ralph Waldo Emerson



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