Analysis of The Winter's Walk

Samuel Johnson 1709 (Lichfield) – 1784 (London)



Behold, my fair, where'er we rove,
What dreary prospects round us rise,
The naked hill, the leafless grove,
The hoary ground, the frowning skies.

Nor only through the wasted plain,
Stern Winter is thy force confess'd;
Still wider spreads thy horrid reign,
I feel thy power usurp my breast.

Enlivening hope, and fond desire,
Resign the heart to spleen and care;
Scarce frighted love maintains her fire,
And rapture saddens to despair.

In groundless hope, and causeless fear,
Unhappy man! behold thy doom;
Still changing with the changeful year
The slave of sunshine and of gloom.

Tired with vain joys, the false alarms,
With mental and corporeal strife,
Snatch me, my Stella, to thy arms,
And screen me from the ills of life.


Scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IJIJ
Poetic Form Traditional rhyme
Quatrain 
Metre 01111011 11010111 01010101 01010101 11010101 11011101 11011101 11110111 0100101010 01011101 11101010 01010101 0101011 01010111 1101011 0111011 101110101 110011 11110111 01110111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 714
Words 125
Sentences 7
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 29
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 114
Words per stanza (avg) 25
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

38 sec read
100

Samuel Johnson

The Reverend Doctor Samuel Johnson was a clergyman, educator, and philosopher in colonial British North America. more…

All Samuel Johnson poems | Samuel Johnson Books

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