Analysis of December
Christopher Pearce Cranch 1813 – 1892
No more the scarlet maples flash and burn
Their beacon-fires from hilltop and from plain;
The meadow-grasses and the woodland fern
In the bleak woods lie withered once again.
The trees stand bare, and bare each stony scar
Upon the cliffs; half frozen glide the rills;
The steel-blue river like a scimitar
Lies cold and curved between the dusky hills.
Over the upland farm I take my walk,
And miss the flaunting flocks of golden-rod;
Each autumn flower a dry and leafless stalk,
Each mossy field a track of frozen sod.
I hear no more the robin's summer song
Through the gray network of the wintry woods;
Only the cawing crows that all day long
Clamor about the windy solitudes.
Like agate stones upon earth's frozen breast,
The little pools of ice lie round and still;
While sullen clouds shut downward east and west
In marble ridges stretched from hill to hill.
Come once again, O southern wind,—once more
Come with thy wet wings flapping at my pane;
Ere snow-drifts pile their mounds about my door,
One parting dream of summer bring again.
Ah, no! I hear the windows rattle fast;
I see the first flakes of the gathering snow,
That dance and whirl before the northern blast.
No countermand the march of days can know.
December drops no weak, relenting tear,
By our fond summer sympathies ensnared;
Nor from the perfect circle of the year
Can even winter's crystal gems be spared.
Scheme | ABAC DEDE FGFG HEHE IJIJ KBKC LMLM XNXN |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (75%) |
Metre | 1101010101 1101011011 01100011 0011110101 0111011101 0101110101 01110101 110101011 1001011111 0101011101 11010010101 111011101 1111010101 101110101 100111111 10010101 1101011101 0101111101 1101110101 0101011111 1101110111 1111110111 1111110111 1101110101 1111010101 11011101001 1101010101 11011111 0101110101 11011010001 1100110101 1101010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,462 |
Words | 244 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 137 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 30 |
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"December" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/53968/december>.
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