Greetings,

I recently came upon this poem, "Easter Week," by Charles Kingsley:

"See the land, her Easter keeping,
Rises as her Maker rose.
Seeds, so long in darkness sleeping,
Burst at last from winter snows.
Earth with heaven above rejoices;
Fields and gardens hail the spring;
Shaughs and woodlands ring with voices,
While the wild birds build and sing.

You, to whom your Maker granted
Powers to those sweet birds unknown,
Use the craft by God implanted;
Use the reason not your own.
Here, while heaven and earth rejoices,
Each his Easter tribute bring —
Work of fingers, chant of voices,
Like the birds who build and sing."

Having now committed the poem to memory, I have three questions about it which won't go away:

1) My feeling is that the line "While the wild birds build and sing," though
part of a poem in trochaic tetrameter, contains metrical variation in the first
two feet, which sound better to me if they begin with a pyrrhic-spondee combo
("while the│ WILD BIRDS │ BUILD and │ SING x") than they do with the
artificial-sounding "WHILE the │ WILD birds │ BUILD and │ SING x."

On the other hand, I suppose one could argue that, since "while" naturally receives
greater stress than "the" and "while the" is in a separate foot from "wild birds,"
there may be no true metrical variation there, especially if one hears
"birds" as receiving greater stress than "wild" within that poetic foot,
such that it is really a trochee rather than a spondee. What do you think?

2) I don't know what the line "Use the reason not your own" means. My best guess
is that "the reason not one's own" is the reason provided by the spring, which
is suited to "work of fingers" and "chant of voices." Another guess is that Kingsley
might be saying that the human FACULTY of reason is God-implanted and in that sense
not the possession of the individual human being — but that just doesn't seem right!

3) Why the singular verb ("rejoices") following the compound subject "heaven and earth"
in the subordinate clause "while heaven and earth rejoices"? Surely that wasn't a mistake
on Kingsley's part. My best guess is that "heaven and earth" is being taken as a whole
entity, this being reflected in the reduction my scansion leads me to: "HEAV'N and EARTH."
Also, we have "EARTH with │ HEAV'N a │ BOVE re │ JOI ces" in the first stanza.

Please don't feel that you need to have a response to all three questions in order to reply!

Thank you. :)

and have just
committed it to memory; but I need feedback on a couple of
things. The first thing is a scansi

Metrist2021 wrote:

> Greetings,

> I recently came upon this poem, "Easter Week," by Charles Kingsley:

> "See the land, her Easter keeping,
> Rises as her Maker rose.
> Seeds, so long in darkness sleeping,
> Burst at last from winter snows.
> Earth with heaven above rejoices;
> Fields and gardens hail the spring;
> Shaughs and woodlands ring with voices,
> While the wild birds build and sing.

> You, to whom your Maker granted
> Powers to those sweet birds unknown,
> Use the craft by God implanted;
> Use the reason not your own.
> Here, while heaven and earth rejoices,
> Each his Easter tribute bring —
> Work of fingers, chant of voices,
> Like the birds who build and sing."

> Having now committed the poem to memory, I have three questions about it which won't go away:

> 1) My feeling is that the line "While the wild birds build and sing," though
> part of a poem in trochaic tetrameter, contains metrical variation in the first
> two feet, which sound better to me if they begin with a pyrrhic-spondee combo
> ("while the│ WILD BIRDS │ BUILD and │ SING x") than they do with the
> artificial-sounding "WHILE the │ WILD birds │ BUILD and │ SING x."

> On the other hand, I suppose one could argue that, since "while" naturally receives
> greater stress than "the" and "while the" is in a separate foot from "wild birds,"
> there may be no true metrical variation there, especially if one hears
> "birds" as receiving greater stress than "wild" within that poetic foot,
> such that it is really a trochee rather than a spondee. What do you think?

> 2) I don't know what the line "Use the reason not your own" means. My best guess
> is that "the reason not one's own" is the reason provided by the spring, which
> is suited to "work of fingers" and "chant of voices." Another guess is that Kingsley
> might be saying that the human FACULTY of reason is God-implanted and in that sense
> not the possession of the individual human being — but that just doesn't seem right!

> 3) Why the singular verb ("rejoices") following the compound subject "heaven and earth"
> in the subordinate clause "while heaven and earth rejoices"? Surely that wasn't a mistake
> on Kingsley's part. My best guess is that "heaven and earth" is being taken as a whole
> entity, this being reflected in the reduction my scansion leads me to: "HEAV'N and EARTH."
> Also, we have "EARTH with │ HEAV'N a │ BOVE re │ JOI ces" in the first stanza.

> Please don't feel that you need to have a response to all three questions in order to reply!

> Thank you. :)

> and have just
> committed it to memory; but I need feedback on a couple of
> things. The first thing is a scansi

Oops, the words following "Thank you." are junk that I forgot to delete. Sorry about that.
Also, in the second paragraph of (1), I should have said "especially if one hears 'wild' as
receiving greater stress than 'birds' within that poetic foot." I think there was a reason
for that typo: if I try to hear a difference of stress there, I naturally hear "birds" as
having greater stress than "wild," which yields an iamb rather than a trochee.

Le 06/04/2024 à 00:21, Metrist2021 a écrit :
> Greetings,
>
> I recently came upon this poem, "Easter Week," by Charles Kingsley:
>
> "See the land, her Easter keeping,
> Rises as her Maker rose.
> Seeds, so long in darkness sleeping,
> Burst at last from winter snows.
> Earth with heaven above rejoices; Fields and gardens hail the spring;
> Shaughs and woodlands ring with voices,
> While the wild birds build and sing.
>
> You, to whom your Maker granted Powers to those sweet birds unknown,
> Use the craft by God implanted;
> Use the reason not your own.
> Here, while heaven and earth rejoices,
> Each his Easter tribute bring —
> Work of fingers, chant of voices,
> Like the birds who build and sing."
>
> Having now committed the poem to memory, I have three questions about it
> which won't go away:
>
> 1) My feeling is that the line "While the wild birds build and sing,"
> though part of a poem in trochaic tetrameter, contains metrical
> variation in the first two feet, which sound better to me if they begin
> with a pyrrhic-spondee combo ("while the│ WILD BIRDS │ BUILD and │ SING
> x") than they do with the artificial-sounding "WHILE the │ WILD birds │
> BUILD and │ SING x."
> On the other hand, I suppose one could argue that, since "while"
> naturally receives greater stress than "the" and "while the" is in a
> separate foot from "wild birds,"
> there may be no true metrical variation there, especially if one hears
> "birds" as receiving greater stress than "wild" within that poetic foot,
> such that it is really a trochee rather than a spondee. What do you think?

I'll pass on that one, since I have two left metrical feet.

> 2) I don't know what the line "Use the reason not your own" means. My
> best guess
> is that "the reason not one's own" is the reason provided by the spring,
> which
> is suited to "work of fingers" and "chant of voices." Another guess is
> that Kingsley
> might be saying that the human FACULTY of reason is God-implanted and in
> that sense
> not the possession of the individual human being — but that just doesn't
> seem right!

My guess is that the reason that is not your own is the one God has
given you, since the whole sentence is:

You, to whom your Maker granted Powers to those sweet birds unknown, Use
the craft by God implanted; Use the reason not your own.

> 3) Why the singular verb ("rejoices") following the compound subject
> "heaven and earth" in the subordinate clause "while heaven and earth
> rejoices"? Surely that wasn't a mistake on Kingsley's part. My best
> guess is that "heaven and earth" is being taken as a whole entity, this
> being reflected in the reduction my scansion leads me to: "HEAV'N and
> EARTH." Also, we have "EARTH with │ HEAV'N a │ BOVE re │ JOI ces" in the
> first stanza.

Yes, heaven-and-earth as a single entity, as Creation.

> Please don't feel that you need to have a response to all three
> questions in order to reply!
>
> Thank you.  :)

On 06/04/24 16:57, Hibou wrote:
> Le 06/04/2024 à 00:21, Metrist2021 a écrit :

>> On the other hand, I suppose one could argue that, since "while"
>> naturally receives greater stress than "the" and "while the" is in
>> a separate foot from "wild birds," there may be no true metrical
>> variation there, especially if one hears "birds" as receiving
>> greater stress than "wild" within that poetic foot, such that it is
>> really a trochee rather than a spondee. What do you think?
>
> I'll pass on that one, since I have two left metrical feet.

Nicely put. My own excuse is that they took away my poetic licence after
I tried to rhyme "orange" with "door hinge".

--
Peter Moylan http://www.pmoylan.org
Newcastle, NSW

Metrist2021 wrote:

> Greetings,

> I recently came upon this poem, "Easter Week," by Charles Kingsley:

> "See the land, her Easter keeping,
> Rises as her Maker rose.
> Seeds, so long in darkness sleeping,
> Burst at last from winter snows.
> Earth with heaven above rejoices;
> Fields and gardens hail the spring;
> Shaughs and woodlands ring with voices,
> While the wild birds build and sing.

> You, to whom your Maker granted
> Powers to those sweet birds unknown,
> Use the craft by God implanted;
> Use the reason not your own.
> Here, while heaven and earth rejoices,
> Each his Easter tribute bring —
> Work of fingers, chant of voices,
> Like the birds who build and sing."

> Having now committed the poem to memory, I have three questions about it which won't go away:

> 1) My feeling is that the line "While the wild birds build and sing," though
> part of a poem in trochaic tetrameter, contains metrical variation in the first
> two feet, which sound better to me if they begin with a pyrrhic-spondee combo
> ("while the│ WILD BIRDS │ BUILD and │ SING x") than they do with the
> artificial-sounding "WHILE the │ WILD birds │ BUILD and │ SING x."

> On the other hand, I suppose one could argue that, since "while" naturally receives
> greater stress than "the" and "while the" is in a separate foot from "wild birds,"
> there may be no true metrical variation there, especially if one hears
> "birds" as receiving greater stress than "wild" within that poetic foot,
> such that it is really a trochee rather than a spondee. What do you think?

I think it's a spondee.

> 2) I don't know what the line "Use the reason not your own" means. My best guess
> is that "the reason not one's own" is the reason provided by the spring, which
> is suited to "work of fingers" and "chant of voices." Another guess is that Kingsley
> might be saying that the human FACULTY of reason is God-implanted and in that sense
> not the possession of the individual human being — but that just doesn't seem right!

I agree with Hibou that it's right, though.

> 3) Why the singular verb ("rejoices") following the compound subject "heaven and earth"
> in the subordinate clause "while heaven and earth rejoices"? Surely that wasn't a mistake
> on Kingsley's part. My best guess is that "heaven and earth" is being taken as a whole
> entity, this being reflected in the reduction my scansion leads me to: "HEAV'N and EARTH."

I agree, though I don't think your scansion (which I also agree with) is relevant to the
explication.

> Also, we have "EARTH with │ HEAV'N a │ BOVE re │ JOI ces" in the first stanza.
...

That agrees with conventional grammar.

--
Jerry Friedman

jerryfriedman wrote:

> Metrist2021 wrote:

>> Greetings,

>> I recently came upon this poem, "Easter Week," by Charles Kingsley:

>> "See the land, her Easter keeping,
>> Rises as her Maker rose.
>> Seeds, so long in darkness sleeping,
>> Burst at last from winter snows.
>> Earth with heaven above rejoices;
>> Fields and gardens hail the spring;
>> Shaughs and woodlands ring with voices,
>> While the wild birds build and sing.

>> You, to whom your Maker granted
>> Powers to those sweet birds unknown,
>> Use the craft by God implanted;
>> Use the reason not your own.
>> Here, while heaven and earth rejoices,
>> Each his Easter tribute bring —
>> Work of fingers, chant of voices,
>> Like the birds who build and sing."

>> Having now committed the poem to memory, I have three questions about it which won't go away:

>> 1) My feeling is that the line "While the wild birds build and sing," though
>> part of a poem in trochaic tetrameter, contains metrical variation in the first
>> two feet, which sound better to me if they begin with a pyrrhic-spondee combo
>> ("while the│ WILD BIRDS │ BUILD and │ SING x") than they do with the
>> artificial-sounding "WHILE the │ WILD birds │ BUILD and │ SING x."

>> On the other hand, I suppose one could argue that, since "while" naturally receives
>> greater stress than "the" and "while the" is in a separate foot from "wild birds,"
>> there may be no true metrical variation there, especially if one hears
>> "birds" as receiving greater stress than "wild" within that poetic foot,
>> such that it is really a trochee rather than a spondee. What do you think?

> I think it's a spondee.

>> 2) I don't know what the line "Use the reason not your own" means. My best guess
>> is that "the reason not one's own" is the reason provided by the spring, which
>> is suited to "work of fingers" and "chant of voices." Another guess is that Kingsley
>> might be saying that the human FACULTY of reason is God-implanted and in that sense
>> not the possession of the individual human being — but that just doesn't seem right!

> I agree with Hibou that it's right, though.

Thank you very much, Jerry and Hibou. My apologies for the
belatedness of this reply. I saw your replies soon after you
made them and thought I'd take a day or so to reply back, but
then got so involved in other matters that I forgot to reply.

I see and agree with all your feedback regarding the metrical
(spondee) and grammatical (subject-verb agreement) things. Regarding
the interpretation of "the reason not your own," I think I'm also on
board with interpreting that as meaning that God implanted the faculty.

I guess Kingley is exhorting readers to follow the birds' example
at this time of year. As our tribute to Easter, we are to apply the
craft(s) and rationality in our power and potential, "like the birds
who build and sing." :)

Thanks again!

>> 3) Why the singular verb ("rejoices") following the compound subject "heaven and earth"
>> in the subordinate clause "while heaven and earth rejoices"? Surely that wasn't a mistake
>> on Kingsley's part. My best guess is that "heaven and earth" is being taken as a whole
>> entity, this being reflected in the reduction my scansion leads me to: "HEAV'N and EARTH."

> I agree, though I don't think your scansion (which I also agree with) is relevant to the
> explication.

>> Also, we have "EARTH with │ HEAV'N a │ BOVE re │ JOI ces" in the first stanza.
> ...

> That agrees with conventional grammar.