December
The lakes of ice gleam bluer than the lakesOf water 'neath the summer sunshine gleamed:Far fairer than when placidly it streamed,The brook its frozen architecture makes,And under bridges white its swift way takes.Snow comes and goes as messenger who dreamedMight linger on the road; or one who deemedHis message hostile gently for their sakesWho listened might reveal it by degrees.We gird against the cold of winter windOur loins now with mighty bands of sleep,In longest, darkest nights take rest and ease,And every shortening day, as shadows creepO'er the brief noontide, fresh surprises find.
Words in this poem
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
- placidly adv.
- In a placid manner.
- noontide n.
- The time of noon; midday. [From noon + tide time; cf. AS. n the ninth hour.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
December is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Calendar of Sonnets, Project Gutenberg ebook #9825; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Helen Hunt Jackson, December, in A Calendar of Sonnets (1886), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9825, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/jackson-sonnets/december.html, id L22656.
Form and metre
December is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACDECED. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
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 ABBAABBACDECED lakesA · gleamedB · streamedB · makesA · takesA · dreamedB · deemedB · sakesA · degreesC · windD · sleepE · easeC · creepE · findD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The lakes of ice gleam bluer than the lakes | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Of water 'neath the summer sunshine gleamed: | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/·· |
| Far fairer than when placidly it streamed, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘·· |
| The brook its frozen architecture makes, | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘· |
| And under bridges white its swift way takes. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Snow comes and goes as messenger who dreamed | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Might linger on the road; or one who deemed | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| His message hostile gently for their sakes | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Who listened might reveal it by degrees. | 10 | ·/˘·˘/··˘/ |
| We gird against the cold of winter wind | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Our loins now with mighty bands of sleep, | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| In longest, darkest nights take rest and ease, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| And every shortening day, as shadows creep | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/·· |
| O'er the brief noontide, fresh surprises find. | 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.