Snow
White are the far-off plains, and whiteThe fading forests grow;The wind dies out along the height,And denser still the snow,A gathering weight on roof and tree,Falls down scarce audibly.
The road before me smooths and fillsApace, and all aboutThe fences dwindle, and the hillsAre blotted slowly out;The naked trees loom spectrallyInto the dim white sky.
The meadows and far-sheeted streamsLie still without a sound;Like some soft minister of dreamsThe snow-fall hoods me round;In wood and water, earth and air,A silence everywhere.
Save when at lonely intervalsSome farmer's sleigh, urged on,With rustling runners and sharp bells,Swings by me and is gone;Or from the empty waste I hearA sound remote and clear;
The barking of a dog, or callTo cattle, sharply pealed,Borne echoing from some wayside stallOr barnyard far a-field;Then all is silent, and the snowFalls, settling soft and slow.
The evening deepens, and the grayFolds closer earth and sky;The world seems shrouded far away;Its noises sleep, and I,As secret as yon buried stream,Plod dumbly on, and dream.
Words in this poem
- fading n.
- An Irish dance; also, the burden of a song.
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- apace adv.
- With a quick pace; quick; fast; speedily. [Pref. a- + pace. OE. a pas at a walk, in which a is the article. See Pace.]
- dwindle v. i.
- To diminish; to become less; to shrink; to waste or consume away; to become degenerate; to fall away. [From OE. dwinen to languish, waste away, AS. dwinan; akin to LG. dwinen, D. dwijnen to vanish, Icel. dvina to cease, dwindle, Sw. tvina; of uncertain origin. Th]
- spectrally adv.
- In the form or manner of a specter.
- wayside n.
- The side of the way; the edge or border of a road or path.
- barnyard n.
- A yard belonging to a barn.
- settling n.
- The act of one who, or that which, settles; the act of establishing one's self, of colonizing, subsiding, adjusting, etc.
- closer n.
- One who, or that which, closes; specifically, a boot closer. See under Boot.
- plod v. i.
- To travel slowly but steadily; to trudge. [Gf. Gael. plod a clod, a pool; also, to strike or pelt with a clod or clods.]
- dumbly adv.
- In silence; mutely.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Snow is in the public domain. This text is taken from Lyrics of Earth, Project Gutenberg ebook #12664; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Archibald Lampman, Snow, in Lyrics of Earth (1895), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12664, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lampman-lyrics/snow.html, id L11113.
Form and metre
Snow is 36 lines in 6 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCC, complete in 4 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 36% 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 ABAB-- whiteA · growB · heightA · snowB · tree · audibly
- 2 ABAB-- fillsA · aboutB · hillsA · outB · spectrally · sky
- 3 ABABCC streamsA · soundB · dreamsA · roundB · airC · everywhereC
- 4 ABABCC intervalsA · onB · bellsA · goneB · hearC · clearC
- 5 ABABCC callA · pealedB · stallA · fieldB · snowC · slowC
- 6 ABABCC grayA · skyB · awayA · iB · streamC · dreamC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| White are the far-off plains, and white | 8 | ········ |
| The fading forests grow; | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| The wind dies out along the height, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| And denser still the snow, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| A gathering weight on roof and tree, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Falls down scarce audibly. | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| The road before me smooths and fills | 8 | ········ |
| Apace, and all about | 6 | ˘/···· |
| The fences dwindle, and the hills | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Are blotted slowly out; | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| The naked trees loom spectrally | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| Into the dim white sky. | 6 | ······ |
| The meadows and far-sheeted streams | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| Lie still without a sound; | 6 | ······ |
| Like some soft minister of dreams | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| The snow-fall hoods me round; | 6 | ······ |
| In wood and water, earth and air, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A silence everywhere. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Save when at lonely intervals | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| Some farmer's sleigh, urged on, | 7 | ·/˘··˘· |
| With rustling runners and sharp bells, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Swings by me and is gone; | 6 | ······ |
| Or from the empty waste I hear | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A sound remote and clear; | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| The barking of a dog, or call | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| To cattle, sharply pealed, | 7 | ·/˘/˘·˘ |
| Borne echoing from some wayside stall | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| Or barnyard far a-field; | 6 | ·/···· |
| Then all is silent, and the snow | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Falls, settling soft and slow. | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| The evening deepens, and the gray | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Folds closer earth and sky; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The world seems shrouded far away; | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Its noises sleep, and I, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| As secret as yon buried stream, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Plod dumbly on, and dream. | 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.