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April is the fourth month of
the year in the Gregorian
Calendar, with 30 days. Derived from the Latin aprilis, either from the Latin word aperire which means "to open", probably
referring to growing plants in spring, or from the Etruscan name Apru for Aphrodite.
April in poetry
Poets identify April with the end of winter, but they don't necessarily agree on what that means:
- We start with the proverb
- April showers bring May flowers
- Whan that April with his showres soote (that is, sweet)
- The droughte of March hath perced to the roote,
- And bathed every veine in swich licour,
- Of which vertu engendred is the flowr; (ll. 1-4)
- Modernized for The Norton Anthology of English Literature
- April is the cruellest month, breeding
- Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
- Memory and desire, stirring
- Dull roots with spring rain.
- To what purpose, April, do you return again?
- Beauty is not enough.
- You can no longer quiet me with the redness
- Of little leaves opening stickily.
- I know what I know.
- The sun is hot on my neck as I observe
- The spikes of the crocus.
- The smell of the earth is good.
- It is apparent that there is no death.
- But what does that signify?
- Not only under ground are the brains of men
- Eaten by maggots.
- Life in itself
- Is nothing,
- An empty cup, a flight of uncarpeted stairs.
- It is not enough that yearly, down this hill,
- April
- Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.
Events in April
Trivia
- April begins on the same day of week as July in all years and also January in leap years.
See also
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