The Full Text of “The Spring”
1Now that the winter's gone, the earth hath lost
2Her snow-white robes, and now no more the frost
3Candies the grass, or casts an icy cream
4Upon the silver lake or crystal stream;
5But the warm sun thaws the benumbed earth,
6And makes it tender; gives a sacred birth
7To the dead swallow; wakes in hollow tree
8The drowsy cuckoo, and the humble-bee.
9Now do a choir of chirping minstrels bring
10In triumph to the world the youthful Spring.
11The valleys, hills, and woods in rich array
12Welcome the coming of the long'd-for May.
13Now all things smile, only my love doth lour;
14Nor hath the scalding noonday sun the power
15To melt that marble ice, which still doth hold
16Her heart congeal'd, and makes her pity cold.
17The ox, which lately did for shelter fly
18Into the stall, doth now securely lie
19In open fields; and love no more is made
20By the fireside, but in the cooler shade
21Amyntas now doth with his Chloris sleep
22Under a sycamore, and all things keep
23Time with the season; only she doth carry
24June in her eyes, in her heart January.
The Full Text of “The Spring”
1Now that the winter's gone, the earth hath lost
2Her snow-white robes, and now no more the frost
3Candies the grass, or casts an icy cream
4Upon the silver lake or crystal stream;
5But the warm sun thaws the benumbed earth,
6And makes it tender; gives a sacred birth
7To the dead swallow; wakes in hollow tree
8The drowsy cuckoo, and the humble-bee.
9Now do a choir of chirping minstrels bring
10In triumph to the world the youthful Spring.
11The valleys, hills, and woods in rich array
12Welcome the coming of the long'd-for May.
13Now all things smile, only my love doth lour;
14Nor hath the scalding noonday sun the power
15To melt that marble ice, which still doth hold
16Her heart congeal'd, and makes her pity cold.
17The ox, which lately did for shelter fly
18Into the stall, doth now securely lie
19In open fields; and love no more is made
20By the fireside, but in the cooler shade
21Amyntas now doth with his Chloris sleep
22Under a sycamore, and all things keep
23Time with the season; only she doth carry
24June in her eyes, in her heart January.
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“The Spring” Introduction
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"The Spring," by the Cavalier poet Thomas Carew, contrasts the beauty and joy of spring with the pain of unrequited love. The poem's speaker describes the transformation of the world in spring: a time when the earth softens and comes vibrantly alive. At the same time, the speaker bemoans the fact that the changing season does nothing to warm the icy heart of the woman he loves. Her heart, the speaker laments, is the one thing that doesn't follow nature's rhythms. "The Spring" appeared in the first edition of Carew's Poems, which were published in 1640.
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“The Spring” Summary
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Now that winter is over, the snow that covered the earth like a white robe has melted away, frost no longer coats the grass like sugar, and the silver lake and clear stream are no longer covered with a milky layer of ice. The sun's warmth melts the unfeeling earth, softening it, and revives the hibernating swallow; it wakes up the sleepy cuckoo bird and the little bee. Now a chorus of chirping birds sings to usher in spring's triumphant return. The landscape, adorned in a rich range of colors, welcomes the eagerly anticipated arrival of May. Now that everything is smiling, my love is the only one who frowns. Not even the burning heat of the midday sun can melt the rock-hard ice that grips her heart and makes it so she doesn't even feel bad for me. The ox, which only recently sought shelter from the winter in the barn, now lounges about in the open pasture. Couples no longer make love inside by the hearth; now the shepherd Amyntas and his lover Chloris nap in the crisp shade beneath the sycamore tree. Everything is in tune with the spring; it's only the woman I love who carries June in her eyes while in her heart it's still January.
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“The Spring” Themes
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The Hopelessness of Unrequited Love
“The Spring” juxtaposes the warmth and hope of spring with the chilly disinterest of the speaker’s “love.” The speaker spends the first half of the poem simply observing and admiring spring’s effect on the natural world: everything is thawing, waking up, and coming alive. But even as the world around him softens and transforms, the woman the speaker longs for remains as frigid as “January” itself. Love isn’t bound by the rhythms of the seasons, the poem implies, and not even the tender beauty of spring can melt an icy heart.
The speaker presents spring as a season filled with beauty, warmth, and delight. “Now that the winter's gone,” the speaker says, the world is no longer dressed in “snow-white robes” and “frost” no longer “Candies” (or decorates) “the grass.” Instead, “the warm sun thaws the benumbed earth.” In other words, feeling is seeping back into the world. Things that were once sleeping come back to life: the sun's warmth “gives a sacred birth / To the dead swallow” and “wakes in a hollow tree / The drowsy cuckoo, and the humble-bee.” “The valleys, hills, and woods” that surround the speaker are adorned in a “rich array” (or an opulent display) of fresh growth, and everyone is thrilled that “the long’d-for May” has finally arrived.
But while spring makes the world around the speaker more “tender,” it does nothing to soften the woman he loves—nor to soothe his heartache. While everything else smiles with spring’s delights, the speaker’s beloved continues to “lour” (or frown). Even the hot “noonday sun” can’t “melt” the “marble ice” that grips her heart, turning even her “pity cold.” In other words, she has no sympathy for the speaker whatsoever; she is unmoved by his desire for her. The world may be transformed by spring, but for her, nothing has changed.
The “ox” that only recently had to hide in the barn to stay warm now sleeps happily in the sunlit, grassy fields, and “Amyntas” (a lovesick shepherd) lounges with “Chloris” (a Greek goddess of spring, flowers, and new growth) beneath a tree. But the speaker remains sad and alone. Love—or, at least this particular woman’s love—doesn’t keep “Time with the season,” and her heart remains in “January.” Spring’s light and warmth ultimately cast the speaker’s heartache in starker relief, as the fresh joy of his surroundings only reminds him of the hopelessness of his longing.
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The Beauty of Nature
Although “The Spring” ends with the speaker feeling as hopeless as ever about his unrequited love, it also simply celebrates the beauty and delights of the natural world. Nature, in this poem, is lovely and deeply connected, bound to predictable and comforting rhythms.
The speaker particularly savors the fresh warmth of spring, but he also recognizes that winter isn’t without its charms. The image of winter as a woman in “snow-white robes” seems elegant and maybe even cozy. The speaker also says that the frost “Candies the grass,” as though coating it in a layer of sweet, shiny sugar syrup. The image of a layer of “icy cream” atop the “silver lake” and “crystal stream” further conveys the unique loveliness of the season, presenting it as a time of delicate, glimmering sweetness and beauty.
Of course, winter also seems lonely and quiet, which is why it’s a good thing that it gives way to spring: a time of new life, awakening, and “tender[ness].” Creatures celebrate the “long’d for May”; they can’t wait for spring, which might even seem even more special coming on the heels of winter’s cold. Indeed, the poem suggests that part of the beauty of the seasons is their predictability. The seasons happen in the same order every year, and there’s comfort in knowing what to look forward to. While the speaker’s love is hopeless, winter always contains within it the promise of spring.
The speaker presents this spring as a welcome antidote to the cold and stillness of winter, a season when the world comes alive. Creatures seem celebratory, happy, calm, and safe, emerging from their slumbers in “hollow tree[s]” to a world bright with colorful blooms and radiating warmth. Even the “valleys, hills, and woods” are resplendent with new life, and wandering musicians play their “triumphant” music to herald the arrival of the season. Nature is a peaceful, comforting place in the poem, and spring is a time of love and delight (for everyone but the speaker, of course).
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Spring”
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Lines 1-4
Now that the winter's gone, the earth hath lost
Her snow-white robes, and now no more the frost
Candies the grass, or casts an icy cream
Upon the silver lake or crystal stream;The speaker begins "The Spring" by announcing that winter is over. He describes the shifting seasons using vivid imagery that, perhaps surprisingly for a poem about the beauty of spring, presents winter as rather lovely in its own right.
The snow has melted, a process the speaker compares to the personified earth taking off her "snow-white robes." "The frost" no longer "Candies the grass"—another image that suggests both winter's frigidity and delicate beauty: that "frost" made the grass look like it was coated with hardened sugar syrup. It also cast "an icy cream / Upon the silver lake or crystal stream." Again, the imagery speaks to both winter's quiet cold and surreal beauty: until recently, the world was coated in a layer of creamy white, and the icy waters of the lake and stream sparkled. The world in winter seems pristine and elegant but also stiff and unfeeling—and spring's warmth loosens everything up.
The delicate sounds of these lines bring their imagery to life. Crisp alliteration ("Candies," "casts," "cream," "crystal") and consonance ("lake," "lost," "frost," "casts," "crystal stream") add to the feeling of a sharp, fragile world covered in glittering ice and snow. Sibilance evokes winter's stillness and quiet:
Candies the grass, or casts an icy cream
Upon the silver lake or crystal stream;Lines 1-4 are also enjambed, each line flowing smoothly into the next and building momentum and anticipation. The poem pulls readers down the page, deeper into this quickly thawing world.
Finally, these lines establish the poem's form. "The Spring" is written in rhyming couplets of iambic pentameter: a meter consisting of five iambs (poetic feet with an unstressed-stressed pattern) per line. These are also called heroic couplets. Take lines 1-2:
Now that | the wint- | er's gone, | the earth | hath lost
Her snow- | white robes, | and now | no more | the frostThe meter here isn't always perfect (indeed, a totally perfect meter might make for a stiff, rigid-sounding poem!). For example, some might argue that line 1 actually begins with a trochee (stressed-unstressed; "Now that"), and the second line contains a spondee (stressed-stressed; "white robes"): Such variations make can certain words stand out to readers. Still, the overall rhythm is recognizably iambic, marked by a steady, bouncy beat.
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Lines 5-8
But the warm sun thaws the benumbed earth,
And makes it tender; gives a sacred birth
To the dead swallow; wakes in hollow tree
The drowsy cuckoo, and the humble-bee. -
Lines 9-12
Now do a choir of chirping minstrels bring
In triumph to the world the youthful Spring.
The valleys, hills, and woods in rich array
Welcome the coming of the long'd-for May. -
Lines 13-16
Now all things smile, only my love doth lour;
Nor hath the scalding noonday sun the power
To melt that marble ice, which still doth hold
Her heart congeal'd, and makes her pity cold. -
Lines 17-22
The ox, which lately did for shelter fly
Into the stall, doth now securely lie
In open fields; and love no more is made
By the fireside, but in the cooler shade
Amyntas now doth with his Chloris sleep
Under a sycamore, -
Lines 22-24
and all things keep
Time with the season; only she doth carry
June in her eyes, in her heart January.
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“The Spring” Symbols
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January/Winter
The poem leans on traditional nature symbolism throughout. Spring, here, represents freshness, vitality, and rebirth, while winter represents stagnancy, frigidity, and sorrow. While the spring is filled with stirring swallows and buzzing bees, the winter landscape seems cast in ice: lovey, perhaps, but also still, quiet, and "benumbed"—totally unfeeling. When the speaker says in the poem's final line that his beloved's heart is filled with "January," this symbolizes her emotional coldness towards the speaker. While the rest of the world is warming up, her heart remains frozen solid, as "benumbed" as the earth in winter and as still as the frozen "lake."
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“The Spring” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Metaphor
The speaker of "The Spring" describes the changing seasons using rich, evocative metaphors. For example, in lines 1-2, the speaker describes the melting snow as "the earth" taking off "Her snow-white robes." This is also an example of personification. The image conveys the elegant beauty of winter and is also a bit suggestive—perhaps hinting at the speaker's unfulfilled longing (maybe he wishes his actual beloved would loosen her robes!).
This personification continues when the speaker says that the sun "thaws the benumbed earth." Calling the earth "benumbed" suggests not just that it's frozen solid but also that it's unfeeling (until the sun comes and warms it up, that is). The sun also "gives sacred birth / To the dead swallow." This is a metaphorical birth: the sun's warmth nudges creatures out of hibernation. (Carew is building on an old mistaken belief that swallows hibernate for the winter.) The sun also "wakes" sleepy birds and bumblebees. Birds (and perhaps insects) become a metaphorical "choir of chirping minstrels"—a chorus of singing musicians whose song ushers in the season.
All these vibrant metaphors emphasize the power and beauty of spring. They make the world feel vividly alive—in turn emphasizing the stark juxtaposition between the vibrant, joyful season and the icy demeanor of the speaker's beloved. Not even "the scalding noonday sun" can "melt that marble ice" that grips his beloved's heart. Her heart is stiff and unyielding as stone. Even as the world around her softens, the woman's heart is stuck in "January." She remains cold and untouchable, unmoved by the changing seasons.
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Personification
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Imagery
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Alliteration
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"The 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.
- Hath
- Candies
- Casts
- Icy cream
- Benumbed
- Swallow
- Drowsy cuckoo
- Humble-bee
- Chirping minstrels
- Rich array
- Long'd-for
- Doth
- Lour
- Congeal'd
- Amyntas
- Chloris
- Sycamore
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Old-fashioned form of "has."
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Spring”
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Form
"The Spring" consists of a single stanza that can be broken up into 12 heroic couplets: rhyming pairs of iambic pentameter (lines with five iambs, poetic feet with a da-DUM rhythm). The steady heartbeat of iambic pentameter and the quick one-two punch of those couplets drives the poem forward.
Note, too, that the poem can be divided in half thematically: lines 1-12 focus on the beauty of spring, while lines 13-24 focus on the comparative coldness of the speaker's beloved.
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Meter
The poem is written in iambic pentameter: lines of five iambs, poetic feet that follow an unstressed-stressed rhythm (da-DUM). Those pounding iambs echo a beating heart, evoking the way life surges forth in the spring. Here is line 1 as an example:
Now that | the win- | ter's gone, | the earth | hath lost
It's possible to scan that first foot as a trochee ("Now that"), placing emphasis on the word "Now" and situating the poem firmly in the spring—and, the speaker thinks, firmly at a time when his beloved's heart should be softening toward him. Many lines here start with trochees, in fact, such as line 3:
Candies | the grass, | or casts | an i- | cy cream
Or line 12:
Welcome | the com- | ing of | the long'd- | for May.
These variations are minor, but in opening lines with a stressed beat, they add some urgency and sonic interest to the poem, preventing it from feeling too rigid or tightly wound.
Readers can hear the speaker's desperation in the final two lines of the poem, which play with the meter quite a bit:
Time with | the sea- | son; on- | ly she | doth carry
June in | her eyes, | in her heart | Janu- | ary.The trochee at the top of line 23 calls attention to the importance of time—the force that seems to guide "all things" except for the heart of the speaker's beloved. There's also an extra, dangling unstressed beat at the end of the line (something called a "feminine ending"). The poem's final line is then very metrically irregular, containing an anapest in its third foot ("in her heart") followed by two trochees in a row. As a result, the poem concludes with a falling rather than rising rhythm; the poem seems to peter away, evoking the speaker's hopelessness. (Some may scan the final word as "January," without a stress on that "a," making the effect even more pronounced.)
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Rhyme Scheme
"The Spring" is arranged into 12 heroic couplets. As such, it also follows a very simple rhyme scheme: AABBCCDD... and so on.
This tightly wound rhyme scheme fills the poem with quick, steady music. It also subtly hints at the speaker's solitude: these are all rhymed pairs, meaning each sound has a partner. The speaker, by contrast, does not; his beloved continues to reject him.
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“The Spring” Speaker
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The lovesick speaker of "The Spring" is pining away for a woman who clearly has no interest in him (or, perhaps, her; the poem never actually genders the speaker, and we've used male pronouns in this guide simply to reflect the vantage point of the poem's 17th-century author). He notices the beauty and warmth of spring blooming all around him, and he describes the world in tender detail. This is clearly someone who appreciates nature's splendor, yet all this vibrancy and joy ultimately throws his sorrow into starker relief. He seems to wish he could feel as happy and carefree as lovers resting in the shade of a "sycamore" tree. Instead, he's stuck lamenting that his beloved's heart remains frozen solid, stuck in a metaphorical "January."
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“The Spring” Setting
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"The Spring" takes place, unsurprisingly, in the spring. It's May; the winter has officially "gone," and the world has cast off its coat of snow and frost. The "warm sun" beats down on the earth, softening the ground, melting away the ice, and beckoning creatures out of hibernation. Birds chirp like "minstrels," or wandering musicians, celebrating the season. Animals like the "ox" snooze in the "open fields" rather than in their stalls, and lovers lounge beneath a shady "sycamore" tree. This world is idyllic, lush, and serene.
Everything responds to the warmth and tenderness of the season—everything, that is, except for the speaker's beloved. While "all things smile," this woman just keeps scowling. She doesn't "keep / Time with the season," the delights of which simply make her metaphorical coldness all the more unbearable.
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Literary and Historical Context of “The Spring”
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Literary Context
Thomas Carew has long been associated with the "Cavalier poets," a number of aristocratic, 17th-century English poets who supported King Charles I during what is now called the English Civil War. The purported aim of Cavalier poetry was to lionize the king and his reign. In reality, however, most Cavalier poetry only glancingly refers to politics or philosophy, instead focusing on beauty, sex, seizing the day, and personal valor—virtues and pleasures the Cavaliers associated with life under a rightful monarchy.
Carew didn't actually live to see the English Civil War (he died sometime around 1639-1640, and the war began in 1642). In fact, though he is generally lumped in with the Cavaliers, his work actually served as a kind of bridge between earlier figures of the English Renaissance, such as Ben Jonson and John Donne, and the younger generation of poets who would come to be known as the Cavaliers (including Richard Lovelace, Robert Herrick, and Sir John Suckling). Carew is a transitional figure whose combination of technical skill, wit, and lighter, more carefree subjects helped to usher in the era of Cavalier poetry.
With its idyllic depiction of the world in spring and mention of the figures "Amyntas" and "Chloris," "The Spring" can also be considered a pastoral: a poem that celebrates a heavily romanticized version of rural life. (The shepherd Amyntas and his beloved Chloris also appear often in pastoral literature.) Christopher Marlowe's "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love," in which a shepherd urges his lover to escape with him to the countryside, is a classic example of the genre. The speaker of Marlowe's poem, like the speaker of "The Spring," believes that the alluring beauty of the countryside should, in theory, melt his beloved's heart.
Carew's poems weren't officially published until after he died, but his manuscripts were passed around and read by other members of the court. In his lifetime, he was perhaps best known for his erotic—and, at the time, deeply scandalous—poem "A Rapture," but he has since come to be known as one of the most complex and skilled poets of his time.
Historical Context
"The Spring" addresses timeless themes of unrequited love and the beauty of the natural world, and it doesn't refer directly to political or historical events. Nonetheless, it was written in the years leading up to the English Civil War, when Carew and his fellow Cavalier poets were united by their strong support for the English king—and, more broadly, for the monarchy itself. They thought that God himself authorized the king's authority. Most of them were also aristocrats: well-born men who served at high levels in the British government as ambassadors, courtiers, and royal advisors. Carew himself was the son of a lawyer, and his mother was the daughter of the Lord Mayor of London.
"The Spring" also draws on archetypes of courtly love common in 17th-century literature. Relationships of this kind weren't physical; in fact, the parties involved often had very little interaction with each other. Young noblemen would attempt to flatter and woo ladies who were quite often of higher standing than themselves. The Cavaliers, in particular, were also known for being promiscuous at a time when sex outside of marriage was considered scandalous.
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More “The Spring” Resources
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External Resources
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Pastoral Poetry 101 — Learn more about the idyllic world of pastoral poetry, the influence of which appears in this poem's mentino of the shepherd Amyntas and his beloved Chloris.
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Thomas Carew's Life and Work — A biography of the poet via the Poetry Foundation.
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A Reading of Carew's Poem — Listen to "The Spring" out loud.
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Who Were the Cavalier Poets? — Read about the school of poets with whom Carew is usually associated.
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