January
Cold is the winter day, misty and dark:The sunless sky with faded gleams is rent:And patches of thin snow outlying, markThe landscape with a drear disfigurement.
The trees their mournful branches lift aloft:The oak with knotty twigs is full of trust,With bud-thronged bough the cherry in the croft;The chestnut holds her gluey knops upthrust.
No birds sing, but the starling chaps his billAnd chatters mockingly; the newborn lambsWithin their strawbuilt fold beneath the hillAnswer with plaintive cry their bleating dams.
Their voices melt in welcome dreams of spring,Green grass and leafy trees and sunny skies:My fancy decks the woods, the thrushes sing,Meadows are gay, bees hum and scents arise.
And God the Maker doth my heart grow boldTo praise for wintry works not understood,Who all the worlds and ages doth behold,Evil and good as one, and all as good.
Words in this poem
- sunless a.
- Destitute or deprived of the sun or its rays; shaded; shadowed.
- outlying a.
- Lying or being at a distance from the central part, or the main body; being on, or beyond, the frontier; exterior; remote; detached.
- drear n.
- Sadness; dismalness.
- gluey a.
- Viscous; glutinous; of the nature of, or like, glue.
- mockingly adv.
- By way of derision; in a contemptuous or mocking manner.
- bleating a.
- Crying as a sheep does.
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- wintry a.
- Suitable to winter; resembling winter, or what belongs to winter; brumal; hyemal; cold; stormy; wintery. [AS. wintrig.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
January is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Robert Bridges, Excluding the Eight Dramas, Project Gutenberg ebook #37804; 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 Bridges, January, in The Growth of Love, and Other Poems (1873–1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #37804, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bridges-shorter-poems/january-2.html, id L01781.
Form and metre
January is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% 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 ABAB darkA · rentB · markA · disfigurementB
- 2 ABAB aloftA · trustB · croftA · upthrustB
- 3 ABAB billA · lambsB · hillA · damsB
- 4 ABAB springA · skiesB · singA · ariseB
- 5 ABAB boldA · understoodB · beholdA · goodB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Cold is the winter day, misty and dark: | 10 | ···/˘·/˘·· |
| The sunless sky with faded gleams is rent: | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| And patches of thin snow outlying, mark | 10 | ·/˘···/·˘· |
| The landscape with a drear disfigurement. | 10 | ·/····˘/˘˘ |
| The trees their mournful branches lift aloft: | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| The oak with knotty twigs is full of trust, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| With bud-thronged bough the cherry in the croft; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The chestnut holds her gluey knops upthrust. | 10 | ·/···/˘··· |
| No birds sing, but the starling chaps his bill | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And chatters mockingly; the newborn lambs | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| Within their strawbuilt fold beneath the hill | 10 | ·········· |
| Answer with plaintive cry their bleating dams. | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| Their voices melt in welcome dreams of spring, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Green grass and leafy trees and sunny skies: | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| My fancy decks the woods, the thrushes sing, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Meadows are gay, bees hum and scents arise. | 10 | /·······˘/ |
| And God the Maker doth my heart grow bold | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| To praise for wintry works not understood, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Who all the worlds and ages doth behold, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Evil and good as one, and all as good. | 10 | /˘········ |
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.