Analysis of To June. Written After An Ungenial May
Denis Florence MacCarthy 1817 (Dublin) – 1882 (Blackrock, Dublin)
I'll heed no more the poet's lay-
His false-fond song shall charm no more-
My heart henceforth shall but adore
The real, not the misnamed May.
Too long I've knelt, and vainly hung
My offerings round an empty name;
O May! thou canst not be the same
As once thou wert when Earth was young.
Thou canst not be the same to-day-
The poet's dream-the lover's joy:-
The floral heaven of girl and boy
Were heaven no more, if thou wert May.
If thou wert May, then May is cold,
And, oh! how changed from what she has been-
Then barren boughs are bright with green,
And leaden skies are glad with gold.
And the dark clouds that veiled thy moon
Were silvery-threaded tissues bright,
Looping the locks of amber light
That float but on the airs of June.
O June! thou art the real May;
Thy name is soft and sweet as hers
But rich blood thy bosom stirs,
Her marble cheek cannot display.
She cometh like a haughty girl,
So conscious of her beauty's power,
She now will wear nor gem nor flower
Upon her pallid breast of pearl.
And her green silken summer dress,
So simply flower'd in white and gold,
She scorns to let our eyes behold,
But hides through very wilfulness:
Hides it 'neath ermined robes, which she
Hath borrowed from some wintry quean,
Instead of dancing on the green-
A village maiden fair and free.
Oh! we have spoiled her with our praise,
And made her froward, false, and vain;
So that her cold blue eyes disdain
To smile as in the earlier days.
Let her beware-the world full soon
Like me shall tearless turn away,
And woo, instead of thine, O May!
The brown, bright, joyous eyes of June.
O June! forgive the long delay,
My heart's deceptive dream is o'er-
Where I believe I will adore,
Nor worship June, yet kneel to May.
Scheme | ABBA CDDC AEEA FGHF IJJI AKKA LMML XFFK NGHN OPPO IAAI AMBA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (83%) |
Metre | 11110101 11111111 11111101 011011 11110101 110011101 11111101 11111111 11110111 01010101 010101101 010111111 11111111 011111111 11011111 01011111 00111111 01001011 10011101 11110111 1111011 11110110 1111101 01011001 11010101 11010110 111111110 01010111 00110101 110100101 111110101 111101 1111111 1111101 01110101 01010101 111101101 0101101 11011101 111001001 10010111 1111101 01011111 01110111 11010101 110101110 11011101 11011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,680 |
Words | 324 |
Sentences | 18 |
Stanzas | 12 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 111 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 27 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:40 min read
- 45 Views
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"To June. Written After An Ungenial May" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/42815/to-june.--written-after-an-ungenial-may>.
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