Analysis of Snow Storm
John Clare 1793 (Helpston) – 1864 (St Andrew's Hospital)
What a night! The wind howls, hisses, and but stops
To howl more loud, while the snow volley keeps
Incessant batter at the window pane,
Making our comfort feel as sweet again;
And in the morning, when the tempest drops,
At every cottage door mountainous heaps
Of snow lie drifted, that all entrance stops
Untill the beesom and the shovel gain
The path, and leave a wall on either side.
The shepherd rambling valleys white and wide
With new sensations his old memory fills,
When hedges left at night, no more descried,
Are turned to one white sweep of curving hills,
And trees turned bushes half their bodies hide.
The boy that goes to fodder with surprise
Walks oer the gate he opened yesternight.
The hedges all have vanished from his eyes;
Een some tree tops the sheep could reach to bite.
The novel scene emboldens new delight,
And, though with cautious steps his sports begin,
He bolder shuffles the huge hills of snow,
Till down he drops and plunges to the chin,
And struggles much and oft escape to win--
Then turns and laughs but dare not further go;
For deep the grass and bushes lie below,
Where little birds that soon at eve went in
With heads tucked in their wings now pine for day
And little feel boys oer their heads can stray.
Scheme | ABCXABACDDEDED FDFGGHIHHIIHJJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10101110011 1111101101 0101010101 10101011101 0001010101 11001011001 1111011101 10100101 0101011101 0101010101 11010111001 110111111 1111111101 0111011101 0111110101 11011101 0101110111 1111011111 01011101 0111011101 1101001111 1111010101 0101010111 1101111101 1101010101 1101111110 1110111111 0101111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,221 |
Words | 228 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 14, 14 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 493 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 113 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 08, 2023
- 1:08 min read
- 182 Views
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"Snow Storm" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22276/snow-storm>.
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