Analysis of Berkshires in April

Clement Wood 1888 ( Alabama ) – 1950 (USA)



It is not Spring -- not yet --
But at East Schaghticoke I saw an ivory birch
Lifting a filmy red mantle of knotted buds
Above the rain-washed whiteness of her arms.

It is not Spring -- not yet --
But at Hoosick Falls I saw a robin strutting,
Thin, still, and fidgety,
Not like the puffed, complacent ball of feathers
That dawdles over the cidery Autumn loam.

It is not Spring -- not yet --
But up the stocky Pownal hills
Some springy shrub, a scarlet gash on the grayness,
Climbs, flaming, over the melting snows.

It is not Spring -- not yet --
But at Williamstown the willows are young and golden,
Their tall tips flinging the sun's rays back at him;
And as the sun drags over the Berkshire crests,
The willows glow, the scarlet bushes burn,
The high hill birches shine like purple plumes,
A royal headdress for the brow of Spring.
It is the doubtful, unquiet end of Winter,
And Spring is pulsing out of the wakening soil.


Scheme Axbx Acaxx Axbx Axxxxxcxx
Poetic Form
Metre 111111 11111111001 10011101101 0101110101 111111 11111101010 1101 11010101110 111001101 111111 1101011 1110101101 110100101 111111 11100111010 11110011111 01011100101 011010101 011111101 010110111 1101011110 0111011011
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 931
Words 175
Sentences 6
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 5, 4, 9
Lines Amount 22
Letters per line (avg) 32
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 178
Words per stanza (avg) 43
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 14, 2023

52 sec read
51

Clement Wood

Clement Richardson Wood (September 1, 1888 – October 26, 1950) was an American writer, lawyer and political activist. He graduated from the University of Alabama in 1909 and received his law degree from Yale in 1911. more…

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