May by Christina Georgina Rossetti
The speaker recalls an unnamed experience on a bright, breezy day in early May, before the poppies bloomed and the last eggs hatched. It passed with the month, leaving the speaker old, cold, and gray.
By Christina Georgina Rossetti · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Melancholic Poetry, Nature Poetry · 142 words
First lines
I cannot tell you how it was; / But this I know: it came to pass / Upon a bright and breezy day / When May was young; ah, pleasant May! / As yet the poppies were not born / Between the blades of tender corn; / The last eggs had not hatched as yet, / Nor any bird foregone its mate.
I cannot tell you what it was; / But this I know: it did but pass. / It passed away with sunny May, / With all sweet things it passed away, / And left me old, and cold, and gray.
Genres
- Lyric Poetry — Two rhymed stanzas convey a speaker's personal recollection of an unnamed, fleeting experience.
- Melancholic Poetry — The pleasant opening gives way to the speaker's account of being left old, cold, and gray.
- Nature Poetry — Tender corn, unhatched eggs, paired birds, and poppies yet to bloom mark the moment of the speaker's recollection.
Tags
spring · transience · loss · aging · birds
What this Textopian page supports
May is listed on Textopian as a poem by Christina Georgina Rossetti, dated Date unknown.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: Christina Georgina Rossetti
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Lyric Poetry, Melancholic Poetry, Nature Poetry
- Length: 142 words
- Structure: 1 section, 2 paragraphs
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