Ode to Spring
written in 1794
Ode to Spring - meaning Summary
Spring's Lust and Comic Mishap
This poem presents a bawdy, comic celebration of spring where natural revival and mating imagery are mixed with explicit sexual humor. Rural scenes—dew, birdsong, and a wandering rill—frame two lovers, Damon and Sylvia, whose tryst is described in deliberately coarse terms. The poem contrasts idyllic pastoral details with crude physicality, using the season’s awakening to highlight human desire and a comical failure of erotic timing. The overall tone is playful, ribald, and satirical, treating traditional pastoral themes with irreverent humor rather than solemnity.
Read Complete AnalysesWhen maukin bucks, at early fucks, In dewy grass are seen, Sir, And birds, on boughs, take off their mows Among the leaves sae green, Sir; Latona's sun looks liquorish on Dame Nature's grand impetus Till his prick go rise, then westward flies To roger Madame Thetis. Yon wandering rill that marks the hill, And glances o'er the brae, Sir, Slides by a bower where many a flower Sheds fragrance on the day, Sir; There Damon lay, with Sylvia gay, To love they thought no crime, Sir: The wild-birds sang, the echoes rang, While Damons arse beat time, Sir. - First with the thrush, his thrust and push Had compass large and long, Sir; The blackbird next, his tuneful text, Was bolder, clear and strong, Sir: The linnet's lay then came in play, And the lark that soar'd aboon, Sir; Till Damon fierce, mistimed his arse, And fucked quite out of tune, Sir.
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