Blog #1: Alliteration in Spring

Take the first line of any one of Hopkins’ poems and write your own poem celebrating the arrival of Spring in your part of the world. Try to incorporate some of Hopkins’s amazing experimentation with language texture especially with sounds.

Nothing is so beautiful as Spring –

Aganapanthus awakening affablly

Behold the Bell-flower beginning to bloom

Clovers creating a cacphony of colour

Dapper Dahlias deftly dancing

Eagerly extolled by enraptured Echinacea.

Foxgloves flaunting fabulous frocks

Germinating Geraniums gallivanting galore

Here the Hydrangea has its heyday.

Impeccable Irises idle

Jaunty Jasmines jostle

Kalmias kindle a kaleidoscope.

Lo the Lavender languidly lounges

Magnolias mesemerise magnificently

Narcissi nimbly form a nimbus

Orchids offer officious obeisance.

Perfect the Peony, pleasant and passionate

Querulous Quince quashed by the quota

Reticent Roses red and radiant

Salutary Snowdrops sanguinely sing.

Tentatively the tulip tries to take after

Unlike the Ursinia’s unprompted undertaking

Violet Violets vaunt their value

While the Wallflower wakes and waves

Xanthoceras’ xanthic, xiphoid xenia beckons.

Yonder the youthful yellow yarrow yawns

And Zenobia zips with zesty zeal.

Such is Spring, spreading semantic synergy with sanguine satisfaction.

With a challenge set to focus upon sound, I decided to experiment with my capacity for alliteration with an alphabetic rendition of the flowers of Spring. Admittedly they may not all be flowers of spring and some of the lines are clumsy and lack cohesion, but I am pleased to have at least attempted the idea and tested the depths of my vocabulary. There is a distinct satisfaction in having the lines roll off the tongue.