Winter
Spirit of unwearied wing,From the Baltic's frozen main,From the Russ's bleak domain,Say, what tidings dost thou bring!Shouts, and the noise of battle! and againThe winged wind blew loud a deadly blast;Shouts, and the noise of battle! the long mainSeemed with hoarse voice to answer as he passed.The moody South went by, and silence kept;The cloudy rack oft hid his mournful mien,And frequent fell the showers, as if he weptThe eternal havoc of this mortal scene.He had heard the yell, and cry,And howling dance of Anarchy,Where the Rhone, with rushing flood,Murmured to the main, through blood:--He seemed to wish he could for ever throwHis misty mantle o'er a world of woe.But rousing him from his desponding trance,Cold Eurus blew his sharp and shrilling horn;In his right hand he bore an icy lance,That far off glittered in the frost of morn;The old man knew the clarion from afar,What from the East? he cried.
Words in this poem
- unwearied a.
- Not wearied; not fatigued or tired; hence, persistent; not tiring or wearying; indefatigable.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- havoc n.
- Wide and general destruction; devastation; waste. [W. hafog devastation, havoc; or, if this be itself fr. E. havoc, cf. OE. havot, or AS. hafoc hawk, which is a cruel or rapacious bird, or F. hai, voux! a cry to]
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- clarion n.
- A kind of trumpet, whose note is clear and shrill. [OE. clarioun, OF. clarion, F. clairon, LL. clario, claro; so called from its clear tone, fr. L. clarus clear. See Clear.]
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Winter is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of William Lisle Bowles, Vol. 1 With Memoir, Critical Dissertation, and Explanatory Notes by George Gilfillan, Project Gutenberg ebook #18915; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Lisle Bowles, Winter, in The Poetical Works, Volume I (1789–1837), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18915, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bowles-sonnets/winter.html, id L09974.
Form and metre
Winter is 24 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.9 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 17% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABBABCBCDEDE--FFGGHIHI-- wingA · mainB · domainB · bringA · againB · blastC · mainB · passedC · keptD · mienE · weptD · sceneE · cry · anarchy · floodF · bloodF · throwG · woeG · tranceH · hornI · lanceH · mornI · afar · cried
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 iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Spirit of unwearied wing, | 7 | /˘·˘/˘· |
| From the Baltic's frozen main, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| From the Russ's bleak domain, | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Say, what tidings dost thou bring! | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Shouts, and the noise of battle! and again | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| The winged wind blew loud a deadly blast; | 10 | ··˘····/˘· |
| Shouts, and the noise of battle! the long main | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Seemed with hoarse voice to answer as he passed. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The moody South went by, and silence kept; | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| The cloudy rack oft hid his mournful mien, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And frequent fell the showers, as if he wept | 10 | ·/˘··/···· |
| The eternal havoc of this mortal scene. | 11 | ·˘/˘/˘··/˘· |
| He had heard the yell, and cry, | 7 | ······· |
| And howling dance of Anarchy, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| Where the Rhone, with rushing flood, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Murmured to the main, through blood:-- | 7 | /˘····· |
| He seemed to wish he could for ever throw | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| His misty mantle o'er a world of woe. | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| But rousing him from his desponding trance, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Cold Eurus blew his sharp and shrilling horn; | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| In his right hand he bore an icy lance, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| That far off glittered in the frost of morn; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The old man knew the clarion from afar, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| What from the East? he cried. | 6 | ······ |
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.