The Bad Year

Edward William Thomson 1849 (Peel County, Ontario) – 1924



MAY, blighted by keen frosts, passed on to June
No blooms, but many a stalk with drooping leaves,
And arid Summer wilted these full soon,
And Autumn gathered up no wealthy sheaves;
Plaintive October saddened for the year,

But wild November raged that hope was past,
Shrieking, “All days of life are made how drear—
Wild whirls of snow! and Death comes driving fast.”
Yet sane December when the winds fell low,
And cold calm light with sunshine tinkled clear,

Harkened to bells more sweet than long ago,
And meditated in a mind sincere:—

“Beneath these snows shining from yon red west
     How sleep the blooms of some delighted May,
And June shall riot, lovely as the best

     That flung their odors forth on all their way;
     Yes, violet Spring, the balms of her soft breath,
Her birdlike voice, the child-joy in her air,

 
     Her gentle colors”—sane December saith
“They come, they come—O heart, sigh not ‘They were.’”

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

48 sec read
165

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABC DCDEC EC FGF GHX HX
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 937
Words 163
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 5, 5, 2, 3, 3, 2

Edward William Thomson

Edward William Thomson was a Canadian journalist and writer. He was born in Peel County, Ontario, the grandson of Edward William Thomson, a member of the York militia who was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada. When Thompson was 14, he was sent to Philadelphia to work in a mercantile office; he enlisted in the Union Army in October 1864, and saw action during the American Civil Waras a trooper in the 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry. Thomson returned to Canada when discharged in August, 1865. He saw combat again the next year, at the Battle of Ridgeway during the Fenian Raids. Thomson took up civil engineering in 1867, and worked as a Land Surveyor from 1872 to 1878. In 1878, at the invitation of publisher George Brown, he became an editorial writer for The Toronto Globe. In 1891 he joined the staff of The Youth's Companion, and worked there for the next 11 years. He wrote a book of short stories, Old Man Savarin and Other Stories, and one of poetry, The Many-Mansioned House and Other Poems. more…

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