Analysis of A Dream Of Summer

John Greenleaf Whittier 1807 (Haverhill) – 1892 (Hampton Falls)



Bland as the morning breath of June
The southwest breezes play;
And, through its haze, the winter noon
Seems warm as summer's day.
The snow-plumed Angel of the North
Has dropped his icy spear;
Again the mossy earth looks forth,
Again the streams gush clear.

The fox his hillside cell forsakes,
The muskrat leaves his nook,
The bluebird in the meadow brakes
Is singing with the brook.
'Bear up, O Mother Nature!' cry
Bird, breeze, and streamlet free;
'Our winter voices prophesy
Of summer days to thee!'

So, in those winters of the soul,
By bitter blasts and drear
O'erswept from Memory's frozen pole,
Will sunny days appear.
Reviving Hope and Faith, they show
The soul its living powers,
And how beneath the winter's snow
Lie germs of summer flowers!

The Night is mother of the Day,
The Winter of the Spring,
And ever upon old Decay
The greenest mosses cling.
Behind the cloud the starlight lurks,
Through showers the sunbeams fall;
For God, who loveth all His works,
Has left His hope with all!


Scheme ABABCDCD EFEFXGEG HDHDIEIE BJBJEKEK
Poetic Form
Metre 11010111 01101 01110101 111101 01110101 111101 0101111 010111 011111 01111 010011 110101 11110101 11011 1010101 110111 10110101 110101 111101 110101 01010111 0111010 01010101 1111010 01110101 010101 01001101 010101 0101011 110011 1111111 111111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 972
Words 179
Sentences 10
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 32
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 195
Words per stanza (avg) 44
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 03, 2023

54 sec read
244

John Greenleaf Whittier

John Greenleaf Whittier was an influential American Quaker poet and ardent advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States. more…

All John Greenleaf Whittier poems | John Greenleaf Whittier Books

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