Analysis of The Coming Of Winter
Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin 1799 (Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin Moscow) – 1837 (Saint Petersburg)
_Stanzas from 'Onegin'_
Our Northern Winter's fickle Summer,
Than Southern Winter scarce more bland--
Is undeniably withdrawing
On fleeting footsteps from the land.
Soon will the Autumn dim the heavens,
The light of sunbeams rarer grown--
Already every day is shorter,
While with a smitten hollow tone
The forest drops its shadow leafage;
Upon the fields the mists lie white,
In lusty caravans the wild geese
Now to the milder South take flight;
Seasons of tedium draw near,
Before the door November drear!
From shivering mist ascends the morning,
The bustle, of the fields declines,
The wolf walks now upon the highway,
In wolfish hunger howls and whines;
The traveller's pony scents him, snorting--
The heedful wanderer breathless takes
His way in haste beyond the mountains!
And though no longer when day breaks
Forth from their stalls the herd begins
To drive the kine,--his noon-day horn recalls.
The peasant maiden sings and spins,
Before her crackling, flaming bright
The pine chips,--friend of Winter night.
And see! The hoar frost colder sparkles
And spreads its silver o'er the fields,
Alas! the golden days are vanished!
Reluctant Nature mournful yields.
The stream with ice all frozen over
Gleams as some fashionable parquet,
And thronging hordes of boyish skaters
Sweep forward on its crystal way.
On her red claws despondent swimming,
The plump goose parts the water cold,
Then on the ice with caution stalking
She slips and tumbles,--ah behold!
Now the first snowflake idling down
Stars the depressing landscape brown.
At such a season in the country,
What can a man's amusements be?
Walk? And but more of empty highway
And of deserted village see?
Or let him through the far Steppes gallop,
His horse can scarcely stand at all--
His stamping hoofs in vain seek foothold,
The rider dreading lest he fall!
So then remain within thy paling,
Read thou in Pradt or Walter Scott,
Compare thy varying editions,
Drink, and thy scoffing mood spare not!
As the long evenings drag away
So doth the Winter too delay.
Sometimes he read aloud with Olga
A latter day romance discreet,
Whose author truly painted nature,
With cunning plot, insight complete;
Oft he passed over a few pages,
Too bald or tasteless in their art--
And coloring, began on further,
Not to disturb the maiden heart.
Again, they sat for hours together,
With but a chess board to divide;
She with her arms propped on the table,
Deep pondering, puzzled to decide--
Till Lenski from his inward storm
Captured her castle with his pawn!
Love condescends to every altar,
Ah when in hearts of youth it springs,
Its coming brings such glad refreshment
As May rain o'er the pasture flings!
Lifted from passion's melancholy
The life breaks forth in fairer flower,
The soul receives a new enrichment--
Fruition sweet and full of power.
But when on later altars arid
It downward sweeps, about us flows--
Love leaves behind such deathly traces
As Autumn tempests where it blows
To strip the woods with ruthless hand,
And turn to soggy waste the land!
How sad to me is thine appearing,
O Springtime, hour of love's unrest!
Within the soul what nameless languors!
What passions hid within the breast!
With what a heavy, heavy spirit
From the earth's rustic lap I feel
Again the joy of Springtide odors--
That once could make my spirit reel!
No more for me such pleasures thrilling,
All that rejoices, that has life,
All that exults,--brings but despondence
To one past passion as past strife,
All is but prose to such as he,
Wearied unto satiety.
Perchance we fain would pass unnoticed
That which in Autumn drooped and pined,
Now radiant in verdure springing,
Since it must of our loss remind;
As with a tortured soul we realize
In Nature's glad awakening,
That we shall never find renewal,
Who evermore are withering.
Perchance there haunts us in remembrance,
Our own most dear and lyric dream,
Another long forgotten Springtime--
And trembling neath this pang supreme,
The heart faints for a distant country
And for a night beside the sea!
Scheme | A BCDCEABAXFXFXB DGHGDIEIJXJFF XKXKBHLHDMDMAA NNHNXOMODPEPHH XQBQRSBSBTUTXA BVWVNBWBXXRXCC DYEYXZLZD1 E1 NC X2 D2 XDUDX3 X3 NN |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111 1010101010 11010111 10100010 1101101 110101010 0111101 0101001110 11010101 0101111 01010111 01010011 11010111 10110011 01010101 1100101010 01010101 01110101 0110101 0111110 01100101 110101010 01110111 11110101 110111111 01010101 01010101 01111101 010111010 011101001 010101110 01010101 011111010 111100001 01111010 11011101 101101010 01110101 110111010 11010101 10111001 1001011 110100010 11010101 10111101 01010101 111101110 11110111 11010111 01010111 11010111 11011101 011100010 1011111 10110101 11010101 011101110 01010101 110101010 1101101 111100110 11110011 010001110 11010101 0111110010 11011101 110111010 11001011 1111101 10010111 11110010 11011111 110111010 111100101 1011100 011101010 010101010 010101110 111101010 11010111 110111010 1101111 11011101 01110101 111111010 11101101 01011101 11010101 110101010 10110111 01011110 11111101 111111010 111111 1101111 11110111 11111111 10101 011111010 11010101 11000110 111110101 110101110 01010100 111101010 1101100 011110010 101110101 01010101 010011101 011101010 01010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 3,937 |
Words | 690 |
Sentences | 31 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 14, 13, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14 |
Lines Amount | 112 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 355 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 75 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 19, 2023
- 3:30 min read
- 171 Views
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"The Coming Of Winter" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/570/the-coming-of-winter>.
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