"Description of Spring" is a sonnet written by courtier and poet Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, during the reign of Henry VIII (1509-1547). The poem describes the bountiful beauty of spring and summer, when the world is filled with green hills, blooming flowers, and singing birds. Yet even as the natural world seems happy and glorious, the heartbroken speaker feels rotten. The change in the seasons doesn't soften the speaker's pain; on the contrary, the only thing that blossoms is the speaker's sorrow.
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The Full Text of “Description of Spring”
Wherein each thing renews, save only the lover
1The soote season, that bud and bloom forth brings,
2With green hath clad the hill and eke the vale:
3The nightingale with feathers new she sings:
4The turtle to her make hath told her tale:
5Summer is come, for every spray now springs,
6The hart hath hung his old head on the pale:
7The buck in brake his winter coat he flings:
8The fishes flete with new repaired scale:
9The adder all her slough away she slings:
10The swift swallow pursueth the flies smale:
11The busy bee her honey now she mings:
12Winter is worn that was the flowers' bale.
13And thus I see among these pleasant things
14Each care decays, and yet my sorrow springs.
The Full Text of “Description of Spring”
Wherein each thing renews, save only the lover
1The soote season, that bud and bloom forth brings,
2With green hath clad the hill and eke the vale:
3The nightingale with feathers new she sings:
4The turtle to her make hath told her tale:
5Summer is come, for every spray now springs,
6The hart hath hung his old head on the pale:
7The buck in brake his winter coat he flings:
8The fishes flete with new repaired scale:
9The adder all her slough away she slings:
10The swift swallow pursueth the flies smale:
11The busy bee her honey now she mings:
12Winter is worn that was the flowers' bale.
13And thus I see among these pleasant things
14Each care decays, and yet my sorrow springs.
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“Description of Spring” Summary
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“Description of Spring” Themes
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Nature's Beauty vs. Heartbreak
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Description of Spring”
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Before Line 1, Lines 1-4
Wherein each thing renews, save only the lover
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: -
Lines 5-8
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: -
Lines 9-12
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. -
Lines 13-14
And thus I see among these pleasant things
Each care decays, and yet my sorrow springs.
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“Description of Spring” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Alliteration
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Irony
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Imagery
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Personification
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Parallelism
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“Description of Spring” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Soote
- Hath
- Clad
- Eke
- Vale
- Turtle
- Make
- Spray
- Hart
- Old head
- Pale
- Buck
- Flete
- Brake
- Adder
- Slough
- Swift
- Swallow
- Pursueth
- Mings
- Bale
- Care
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- See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Description of Spring”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Description of Spring” Speaker
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“Description of Spring” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Description of Spring”
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More “Description of Spring” Resources
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External Resources
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The Petrarchan Original — Check out the poem that inspired "Description of Spring."
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Howards Biography — Learn more about Howard's life and work via the Poetry Foundation.
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Tottel's Miscellany — Explore the first English-language poetry anthology, which includes poems by Henry Howard.
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The Tudor Court — Learn more about life in the court of Henry VIII, a world of suspicion, plotting, danger, and lust.
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