Analysis of The Winter's Spring

John Clare 1793 (Helpston) – 1864 (St Andrew's Hospital)



The winter comes; I walk alone,
I want no bird to sing;
To those who keep their hearts their own
The winter is the spring.
No flowers to please--no bees to hum--
The coming spring's already come.

I never want the Christmas rose
To come before its time;
The seasons, each as God bestows,
Are simple and sublime.
I love to see the snowstorm hing;
'Tis but the winter garb of spring.

I never want the grass to bloom:
The snowstorm's best in white.
I love to see the tempest come
And love its piercing light.
The dazzled eyes that love to cling
O'er snow-white meadows sees the spring.

I love the snow, the crumpling snow
That hangs on everything,
It covers everything below
Like white dove's brooding wing,
A landscape to the aching sight,
A vast expanse of dazzling light.

It is the foliage of the woods
That winters bring--the dress,
White Easter of the year in bud,
That makes the winter Spring.
The frost and snow his posies bring,
Nature's white spurts of the spring.


Scheme ABABCC DEDEBB XFCFBB GBGBFF XXXBBB
Poetic Form Etheree  (27%)
Tetractys  (20%)
Metre 01011101 111111 11111111 010101 110111111 01010101 11010101 110111 01011101 110001 1111011 11010111 11010111 01101 11110101 011101 01011111 10111101 1101011 11110 1101001 111101 0110101 010111001 11010101 110101 11010101 110101 0101111 1011101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 977
Words 179
Sentences 11
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6, 6, 6
Lines Amount 30
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 151
Words per stanza (avg) 35
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 20, 2023

55 sec read
135

John Clare

John Clare was an English poet in his time he was commonly known as the Northamptonshire Peasant Poet more…

All John Clare poems | John Clare Books

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