spring
و عليكم السلام
"Description of Spring" by Henry Howard
THE soote season, that bud and bloom forth brings,
With green hath clad the hill and eke the vale:
The nightingale with feathers new she sings;
The turtle to her make hath told her tale.
Summer is come, for every spray now springs:
The hart hath hung his old head on the pale;
The buck in brake his winter coat he flings;
The fishes flete with new repaired scale.
The adder all her slough away she slings;
The swift swallow pursueth the flies smale;
The busy bee her honey now she mings;
Winter is worn that was the flowers' bale.
And thus I see among these pleasant things
Each care decays, and yet my sorrow springs.
If you look at the title, you see that the poem is about spring and the rebirth of nature. This is an Elizabethan sonnet whose rhymes are abab abab abab aa. The speaker exposes the beauty of nature´s revival in springtime; however, his last couplet shows his sadness for not being part of this renewal.
The poem is rich in visual imagery. Thus, “With green hath clad the hill and eke the vale” (line 2), makes the reader to see the rebirth of the flowers, and the greenness in the hills and valleys. Moreover, the poet uses consonance, which is the repetition of a consonant in the beginning of the word. For example you have “Summer is come, for every spray now springs” (line 5), in which the consonant s is repeated in the words “summer”, “spray” and “springs”. Or in:” The hart hath hung his old head on the pale ;”( line 6), in which H is repeated. The speaker also uses metaphors, when he refers to the hart hanging his old head, or the buck flinging in his winter coat. Those devices help the reader to perceive the changes in nature. The first twelve lines connote exaltation and euphoria, whereas the two last couplets imply sorrow and unhappiness.
If you look again to the title you see that “Wherein each thing renews, save only the Lover”. The word “save” comes from the Latin word “salvus” which means except. Thus, the theme of the poem is alterations and changes in nature, in which the speaker is not included. The poet Henry Howard lived in the early fifteenth century, which explains the complex and intrinsic language and the use of old English words.
Well, to begin here is a version in plain English. The poem is a lament for lost or unrequieted love. The poet look around and sees how everything is beautiful and new, acknowledges this and yet states his sadness in the midst of the beauty and renewal of the world.
The sweet season which is Spring brings with it buds and blooms, the hills and also the valleys are dressed in green. The nightingale sings and the turtledove has told her mate the story of how summer is coming and the sprays of flowers are blooming. The deer has shed his old antlers on the fencepost (picket) and the male deer has shed his old coat by rubbing himself in a thicket of thorns. The fish are fast because they too have new scales and the snake has also shed her winter coat. The swallow is fast as she pursues flies and the bee mixes honey. Winter is past (over) and the flowers have nothing to fear. As I look around me I see only wonderful and pleasant things and yet I am troubled and worried, I am full of sorrow
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