Winter Song
Dear Boy, throw that Icicle down,And sweep this deep Snow from the door:Old Winter comes on with a frown;A terrible frown for the poor.In a Season so rude and forlornHow can age, how can infancy bearThe silent neglect and the scornOf those who have plenty to spare?
Fresh broach'd is my Cask of old Ale,Well-tim'd now the frost is set in;Here's Job come to tell us a tale,We'll make him at home to a pin.While my Wife and I bask o'er the fire,The roll of the Seasons will prove,That Time may diminish desire,But cannot extinguish true love.
O the pleasures of neighbourly chat,If you can but keep scandal away,To learn what the world has been at,And what the great Orators say;Though the Wind through the crevices sing,And Hail down the chimney rebound,I'm happier than many a kingWhile the Bellows blow Bass to the sound.
Abundance was never my lot:But out of the trifle that's given,That no curse may alight on my Cot,I'll distribute the bounty of Heaven:The fool and the slave gather wealth;But if I add nought to my store,Yet while I keep conscience in health,I've a Mine that will never grow poor.
Words in this poem
- icicle n.
- A pendent, and usually conical, mass of ice, formed by freezing of dripping water; as, the icicles on the eaves of a house. [OE. isikel, AS. isgicel; is ice + gicel icicle; akin to Icel. jökull; cf. Gael. eigh ice, Ir. aigh.]
- forlorn a.
- Deserted abandoned; lost. [OE., p.p. of forlesen to lose utterly, AS. forleósan (p.p. forloren); pref. for- + leósan (in comp.) to lose; cf. D. verliezen to lose, G. verlieren, Sw. förlor]
- bask v. i.
- To lie in warmth; to be exposed to genial heat. [OScand. ba to bathe one's self, or perh. bakask to bake one's self, sk being reflexive. See Bath, n., Bake, v. t.]
- scandal n.
- Offense caused or experienced; reproach or reprobation called forth by what is regarded as wrong, criminal, heinous, or flagrant: opprobrium or disgrace. [F. scandale, fr. L. scandalum, Gr. scandle, OF. escandle. See Slander.]
- chimney n.
- A fireplace or hearth. Sir W. Raleigh.
- bounty n.
- Goodness, kindness; virtue; worth. [OE. bounte goodness, kindness, F. bonté, fr. L. bonitas, fr. bonus good, for older duonus; cf. Skr. duvas honor, respect.]
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- conscience n.
- Knowledge of one's own thoughts or actions; consciousness. [F. conscience, fr. L. conscientia, fr. consciens, p.pr. of conscire to know, to be conscious; con- + scire to know. See Science.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Winter Song is in the public domain. This text is taken from Rural Tales, Ballads, and Songs, Project Gutenberg ebook #9093; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Robert Bloomfield, Winter Song, in Rural Tales, Ballads and Songs (1802), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9093, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bloomfield-tales/winter-song.html, id L09712.
Form and metre
Winter Song is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDCD, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is anapaestic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 84% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.5 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in anapaestic trimeter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 A-A-BCBC downA · door · frownA · poor · forlornB · bearC · scornB · spareC
- 2 ABABCDCD aleA · inB · taleA · pinB · fireC · proveD · desireC · loveD
- 3 ABABCDCD chatA · awayB · atA · sayB · singC · reboundD · kingC · soundD
- 4 A-A-B-B- lotA · given · cotA · heaven · wealthB · store · healthB · poor
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against anapaestic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Dear Boy, throw that Icicle down, | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| And sweep this deep Snow from the door: | 8 | ········ |
| Old Winter comes on with a frown; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A terrible frown for the poor. | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| In a Season so rude and forlorn | 9 | ··/˘···˘/ |
| How can age, how can infancy bear | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| The silent neglect and the scorn | 8 | ·/˘˘/··· |
| Of those who have plenty to spare? | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Fresh broach'd is my Cask of old Ale, | 8 | ········ |
| Well-tim'd now the frost is set in; | 8 | ········ |
| Here's Job come to tell us a tale, | 8 | ········ |
| We'll make him at home to a pin. | 8 | ········ |
| While my Wife and I bask o'er the fire, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| The roll of the Seasons will prove, | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| That Time may diminish desire, | 9 | ···˘/˘˘/˘ |
| But cannot extinguish true love. | 8 | ·˘/˘/˘·· |
| O the pleasures of neighbourly chat, | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| If you can but keep scandal away, | 9 | ·····/˘˘/ |
| To learn what the world has been at, | 8 | ········ |
| And what the great Orators say; | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| Though the Wind through the crevices sing, | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| And Hail down the chimney rebound, | 8 | ····/˘˘/ |
| I'm happier than many a king | 9 | ·/˘˘·/˘·· |
| While the Bellows blow Bass to the sound. | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| Abundance was never my lot: | 8 | ˘/˘·/˘·· |
| But out of the trifle that's given, | 9 | ····/˘·/˘ |
| That no curse may alight on my Cot, | 9 | ····˘/··· |
| I'll distribute the bounty of Heaven: | 10 | ·˘/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| The fool and the slave gather wealth; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But if I add nought to my store, | 8 | ········ |
| Yet while I keep conscience in health, | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| I've a Mine that will never grow poor. | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.