A Frosty Night.

Robert von Ranke Graves 1895 (Wimbledon, Surrey) – 1985 (Deià, Majorca)




Mother
  
Alice, dear, what ails you,
Dazed and white and shaken?
Has the chill night numbed you?
Is it fright you have taken?
  
Alice
  
  
Mother, I am very well,
I felt never better,
Mother, do not hold me so,
Let me write my letter.
  
Mother
  
Sweet, my dear, what ails you?
  
Alice
  
No, but I am well;
The night was cold and frosty,
There's no more to tell.
  
Mother
  
Ay, the night was frosty,
Coldly gaped the moon,
Yet the birds seemed twittering
Through green boughs of June.
  
Soft and thick the snow lay,
Stars danced in the sky.
Not all the lambs of May-day
Skip so bold and high.
  
Your feet were dancing, Alice,
Seemed to dance on air,
You looked a ghost or angel
In the starlight there.
  
Your eyes were frosted starlight,
Your heart fire and snow.
Who was it said, "I love you"?
  
Alice
  
Mother, let me go!
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Submitted on August 03, 2020

Modified on April 17, 2023

50 sec read
92

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAB CDED A CFC FGHG IHIX XJXJ XEA E
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 804
Words 168
Stanzas 9
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 1, 3, 4, 4, 4, 3, 1

Robert von Ranke Graves

Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was a British poet, historical novelist, critic, and classicist. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celticists and students of Irish mythology. Graves produced more than 140 works in his lifetime. His poems, his translations and innovative analysis of the Greek myths, his memoir of his early life—including his role in World War I—Good-Bye to All That, and his speculative study of poetic inspiration, The White Goddess, have never been out of print. He earned his living from writing, particularly popular historical novels such as I, Claudius; King Jesus; The Golden Fleece; and Count Belisarius. He also was a prominent translator of Classical Latin and Ancient Greek texts; his versions of The Twelve Caesars and The Golden Ass remain popular for their clarity and entertaining style. Graves was awarded the 1934 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for both I, Claudius and Claudius the God.  more…

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    "A Frosty Night." Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/56552/a-frosty-night.>.

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    "She walks in beauty, like the night of cloudless climes and starry skies."
    A Percy Bysshe Shelley
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