Winter: A Dirge
The wintry west extends his blast,And hail and rain does blaw;Or the stormy north sends driving forthThe blinding sleet and snaw:While, tumbling brown, the burn comes down,And roars frae bank to brae;And bird and beast in covert rest,And pass the heartless day.
“The sweeping blast, the sky o’ercast,”The joyless winter dayLet others fear, to me more dearThan all the pride of May:The tempest’s howl, it soothes my soul,My griefs it seems to join;The leafless trees my fancy please,Their fate resembles mine!
Thou Power Supreme, whose mighty schemeThese woes of mine fulfil,Here firm I rest; they must be best,Because they are Thy will!Then all I want—O do Thou grantThis one request of mine!—Since to enjoy Thou dost deny,Assist me to resign.
Words in this poem
- wintry a.
- Suitable to winter; resembling winter, or what belongs to winter; brumal; hyemal; cold; stormy; wintery. [AS. wintrig.]
- sleet n.
- The part of a mortar extending from the chamber to the trunnions.
- brae n.
- A hillside; a slope; a bank; a hill. Burns. [See Bray a hill.]
- heartless a.
- Without a heart.
- joyless a.
- Not having joy; not causing joy; unenjoyable.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Winter: A Dirge is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns, Project Gutenberg ebook #1279; 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 Burns, Winter: A Dirge, in Poems and Songs (1786–1796), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1279, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/burns-poems/winter-a-dirge.html, id L02930.
Form and metre
Winter: A Dirge is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.0 syllables. 21% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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-B-B blast · blawA · forth · snawA · down · braeB · rest · dayB
- 2 -A-A---- o'ercast · dayA · dear · mayA · soul · join · please · mine
- 3 -----A-A scheme · fulfil · best · will · grant · mineA · deny · resignA
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The wintry west extends his blast, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| And hail and rain does blaw; | 6 | ······ |
| Or the stormy north sends driving forth | 9 | ··/˘··/˘· |
| The blinding sleet and snaw: | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| While, tumbling brown, the burn comes down, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And roars frae bank to brae; | 6 | ······ |
| And bird and beast in covert rest, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And pass the heartless day. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| “The sweeping blast, the sky o’ercast,” | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The joyless winter day | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Let others fear, to me more dear | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Than all the pride of May: | 6 | ······ |
| The tempest’s howl, it soothes my soul, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| My griefs it seems to join; | 6 | ······ |
| The leafless trees my fancy please, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Their fate resembles mine! | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Thou Power Supreme, whose mighty scheme | 8 | ·/˘/·/˘· |
| These woes of mine fulfil, | 6 | ······ |
| Here firm I rest; they must be best, | 8 | ········ |
| Because they are Thy will! | 6 | ······ |
| Then all I want—O do Thou grant | 8 | ········ |
| This one request of mine!— | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Since to enjoy Thou dost deny, | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| Assist me to resign. | 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.