Analysis of Before And After Summer
Thomas Hardy 1840 (Stinsford) – 1928 (Dorchester, Dorset)
Looking forward to the spring
One puts up with anything.
On this February day,
Though the winds leap down the street,
Wintry scourgings seem but play,
And these later shafts of sleet
- Sharper pointed than the first -
And these later snows - the worst -
Are as a half-transparent blind
Riddled by rays from sun behind.
II
Shadows of the October pine
Reach into this room of mine:
On the pine there stands a bird;
He is shadowed with the tree.
Mutely perched he bills no word;
Blank as I am even is he.
For those happy suns are past,
Fore-discerned in winter last.
When went by their pleasure, then?
I, alas, perceived not when.
Scheme | AABCBCDDEE XFFGHGHIIJJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1010101 111110 111001 1011101 101111 0110111 1010101 0110101 11010101 10111101 1 1100101 1011111 1011101 1110101 111111 11111011 1110111 1010101 1111101 1010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 616 |
Words | 120 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 10, 11 |
Lines Amount | 21 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 244 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 59 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 11, 2023
- 36 sec read
- 116 Views
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"Before And After Summer" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/36344/before-and-after-summer>.
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