Analysis of Winter Stores
Charlotte Brontë 1816 (Thornton, West Yorkshire) – 1855 (Haworth)
WE take from life one little share,
And say that this shall be
A space, redeemed from toil and care,
From tears and sadness free.
And, haply, Death unstrings his bow
And Sorrow stands apart,
And, for a little while, we know
The sunshine of the heart.
Existence seems a summer eve,
Warm, soft, and full of peace;
Our free, unfettered feelings give
The soul its full release.
A moment, then, it takes the power,
To call up thoughts that throw
Around that charmed and hallowed hour,
This life's divinest glow.
But Time, though viewlessly it flies,
And slowly, will not stay;
Alike, through clear and clouded skies,
It cleaves its silent way.
Alike the bitter cup of grief,
Alike the draught of bliss,
Its progress leaves but moment brief
For baffled lips to kiss.
The sparkling draught is dried away,
The hour of rest is gone,
And urgent voices, round us, say,
' Ho, lingerer, hasten on !'
And has the soul, then, only gained,
From this brief time of ease,
A moment's rest, when overstrained,
One hurried glimpse of peace ?
No; while the sun shone kindly o'er us,
And flowers bloomed round our feet,
While many a bud of joy before us
Unclosed its petals sweet,
An unseen work within was plying;
Like honey-seeking bee,
From flower to flower, unwearied, flying,
Laboured one faculty,
Thoughtful for Winter's future sorrow,
Its gloom and scarcity;
Prescient to-day, of want to-morrow,
Toiled quiet Memory.
'Tis she that from each transient pleasure
Extracts a lasting good;
'Tis she that finds, in summer, treasure
To serve for winter's food.
And when Youth's summer day is vanished,
And Age brings Winter's stress,
Her stores, with hoarded sweets replenished,
Life's evening hours will bless.
Scheme | ABAB XCDC XEXE FDFD GHGH IJIJ HXHX XXCE KLKL MBMB DBDB FXFX NONO |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (77%) |
Metre | 11111101 011111 01011101 110101 011111 010101 01010111 01101 01010101 110111 101010101 011101 010111010 111111 011101010 1111 111111 010111 01110101 111101 01010111 010111 1111101 110111 01011101 0101111 01010111 11101 01011101 111111 010111 110111 1101110101 01011101 1100111011 11101 101101110 110101 110110110 11100 101101010 110100 1001111110 110100 111111010 10101 111101010 111101 011101110 011101 011101010 1101011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,719 |
Words | 294 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 13 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 52 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 101 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 22 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:30 min read
- 116 Views
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"Winter Stores" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/5534/winter-stores>.
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