Analysis of A Year’s Windfalls
Christina Georgina Rossetti 1830 (London) – 1894 (London)
On the wind of January
Down flits the snow,
Travelling from the frozen North
As cold as it can blow.
Poor robin redbreast,
Look where he comes;
Let him in to feel your fire,
And toss him of your crumbs.
On the wind in February
Snowflakes float still,
Half inclined to turn to rain,
Nipping, dripping, chill.
Then the thaws swell the streams,
And swollen rivers swell the sea:—
If the winter ever ends
How pleasant it will be!
In the wind of windy March
The catkins drop down,
Curly, caterpillar-like,
Curious green and brown.
With concourse of nest-building birds
And leaf-buds by the way,
We begin to think of flowers
And life and nuts some day.
With the gusts of April
Rich fruit-tree blossoms fall,
On the hedged-in orchard-green,
From the southern wall.
Apple-trees and pear-trees
Shed petals white or pink,
Plum-trees and peach-trees;
While sharp showers sink and sink.
Little brings the May breeze
Beside pure scent of flowers,
While all things wax and nothing wanes
In lengthening daylight hours.
Across the hyacinth beds
The wind lags warm and sweet,
Across the hawthorn tops,
Across the blades of wheat.
In the wind of sunny June
Thrives the red rose crop,
Every day fresh blossoms blow
While the first leaves drop;
White rose and yellow rose
And moss-rose choice to find,
And the cottage cabbage-rose
Not one whit behind.
On the blast of scorched July
Drives the pelting hail,
From thunderous lightning-clouds, that blot
Blue heaven grown lurid-pale.
Weedy waves are tossed ashore,
Sea-things strange to sight
Gasp upon the barren shore
And fade away in light.
In the parching August wind
Corn-fields bow the head,
Sheltered in round valley depths,
On low hills outspread.
Early leaves drop loitering down
Weightless on the breeze,
First fruits of the year's decay
From the withering trees.
In brisk wind of September
The heavy-headed fruits
Shake upon their bending boughs
And drop from the shoots;
Some glow golden in the sun,
Some show green and streaked,
Some set forth a purple bloom,
Some blush rosy-cheeked.
In strong blast of October
At the equinox,
Stirred up in his hollow bed
Broad ocean rocks;
Plunge the ships on his bosom,
Leaps and plunges the foam,—
It's oh! for mothers' sons at sea,
That they were safe at home.
In slack wind of November
The fog forms and shifts;
All the world comes out again
When the fog lifts.
Loosened from their sapless twigs
Leaves drop with every gust;
Drifting, rustling, out of sight
In the damp or dust.
Last of all, December,
The year's sands nearly run,
Speeds on the shortest day,
Curtails the sun;
With its bleak raw wind
Lays the last leaves low,
Brings back the nightly frosts,
Brings back the snow.
Scheme | ABXBCDED AFXFXAXA XGXGXHIC XJXJKLKL KIXIXCXC XMBMNCNC XOCOPCPC CCXCGKHK EQXQRCXC ESCSXTAT EUXUXCCC ERCRCBXB |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1011100 1101 10010101 111111 1101 1111 11011110 011111 1010100 111 1011111 10101 101101 01010101 1010101 110111 0011101 01011 101001 100101 1111101 011101 10111110 010111 101110 111101 1010101 10101 101011 110111 11011 1110101 101011 0111110 11110101 0100110 010101 011101 01011 010111 0011101 10111 10011101 10111 110101 011111 0010101 11101 101111 10101 110010111 1101101 1011101 11111 1010101 010101 001101 11101 1001101 1111 10111001 10101 1110101 101001 0111010 010101 1011101 01101 1110001 11101 1110101 11101 0111010 1010 1101101 1101 1011110 101001 11110111 110111 0111010 01101 1011101 1011 101111 1111001 1010111 00111 111010 011101 110101 0101 11111 10111 110101 1101 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 2,586 |
Words | 464 |
Sentences | 22 |
Stanzas | 12 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 96 |
Letters per line (avg) | 22 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 176 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 38 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 01, 2023
- 2:20 min read
- 91 Views
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"A Year’s Windfalls" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/5725/a-year%E2%80%99s-windfalls>.
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