What is he form of the poem “Spring in war-time” by Edith Nesbit?
The poem (thanks Marianne H!) is made up of four stanzas. Each stanza has four lines. A stanza with four lines is called a quatrain, so the poem is made up of four quatrains. — The rhyming pattern is ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH. The first line of each stanza/quatrain rhymes with the third line. The second line of each stanza/quatrain rhymes with the fourth line. This can be called “cross-rhyme”. So the first stanza/quatrain goes: Now the sprinkled blackthorn snow (A) Lies along the lovers’ lane (B) Where last year we used to go— (A) Where we shall not go again. (B) — The poem is written in trimeter. This means that each line has three STRESSED syllables. So the second stanza/quatrain goes: In the HEDGE the BUDS are NEW, By our WOOD the VIOlets PEER— Just like LAST year’s VIOlets, TOO, But THEY have no SCENT this YEAR. The poem is written largely in iambics, which means that it goes weak-STRONG, weak-STRONG, weak-STRONG. So you could call it iambic trimeter. But, importantly, there are many
