January
O winter! frozen pulse and heart of fire,What loss is theirs who from thy kingdom turnDismayed, and think thy snow a sculptured urnOf death! Far sooner in midsummer tireThe streams than under ice. June could not hireHer roses to forego the strength they learnIn sleeping on thy breast. No fires can burnThe bridges thou dost lay where men desireIn vain to build.O Heart, when Love's sun goesTo northward, and the sounds of singing cease,Keep warm by inner fires, and rest in peace.Sleep on content, as sleeps the patient rose.Walk boldly on the white untrodden snows,The winter is the winter's own release.
Words in this poem
- midsummer n.
- The middle of summer. Shak. Midsummer daisy (Bot.), the oxeye daisy. [AS. midsumor.]
- forego v. t.
- To quit; to relinquish; to leave. [See Forgo.]
- northward a.
- Toward the north; nearer to the north than to the east or west point. [AS. noredhweard.]
- boldly adv.
- In a bold manner. [AS. bealdlice.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
January 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, January, in A Calendar of Sonnets (1886), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9825, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/jackson-sonnets/january.html, id L22645.
Form and metre
January is 15 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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 ABBAABBA-CDDCCD fireA · turnB · urnB · tireA · hireA · learnB · burnB · desireA · build · goesC · ceaseD · peaceD · roseC · snowsC · releaseD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| O winter! frozen pulse and heart of fire, | 11 | ·/˘/˘····/˘ |
| What loss is theirs who from thy kingdom turn | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Dismayed, and think thy snow a sculptured urn | 10 | ˘/·····/˘· |
| Of death! Far sooner in midsummer tire | 11 | ···/˘·//˘/˘ |
| The streams than under ice. June could not hire | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Her roses to forego the strength they learn | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| In sleeping on thy breast. No fires can burn | 10 | ·/˘····/·· |
| The bridges thou dost lay where men desire | 11 | ·/˘·····˘/˘ |
| In vain to build. | 4 | ···· |
| O Heart, when Love's sun goes | 6 | ······ |
| To northward, and the sounds of singing cease, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Keep warm by inner fires, and rest in peace. | 10 | ···/˘/···· |
| Sleep on content, as sleeps the patient rose. | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| Walk boldly on the white untrodden snows, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| The winter is the winter's own release. | 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.