When the Year Grows Old
I cannot but rememberWhen the year grows old--October--November--How she disliked the cold!
She used to watch the swallowsGo down across the sky,And turn from the windowWith a little sharp sigh.
And often when the brown leavesWere brittle on the ground,And the wind in the chimneyMade a melancholy sound,
She had a look about herThat I wish I could forget--The look of a scared thingSitting in a net!
Oh, beautiful at nightfallThe soft spitting snow!And beautiful the bare boughsRubbing to and fro!
But the roaring of the fire,And the warmth of fur,And the boiling of the kettleWere beautiful to her!
I cannot but rememberWhen the year grows old--October--November--How she disliked the cold!
Words in this poem
- chimney n.
- A fireplace or hearth. Sir W. Raleigh.
- nightfall n.
- The close of the day.
- kettle n.
- A metallic vessel, with a wide mouth, often without a cover, used for heating and boiling water or other liguids. Kettle pins, ninepins; skittles. Shelton. [OE. ketel; cf. AS. cetel, cetil, cytel; akin to D. kjedel, G. kessel, OHG. chezzil, Icel. ketill, SW. kittel, Dan. kjedel, Goth. katils; all perh. fr. L. catill]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
When the Year Grows Old is in the public domain. This text is taken from Renascence, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #109; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edna St. Vincent Millay, When the Year Grows Old, in Renascence and Other Poems (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #109, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/millay-renascence/when-the-year-grows-old.html, id L07739.
Form and metre
When the Year Grows Old is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABAB, in 2 of the 7 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is short measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.3 syllables. 9 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 39% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in short measure.
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 rememberA · oldB · novemberA · coldB
- 2 -A-A swallows · skyA · window · sighA
- 3 -A-A leaves · groundA · chimney · soundA
- 4 -A-A her · forgetA · thing · netA
- 5 -A-A nightfall · snowA · boughs · froA
- 6 -A-A fire · furA · kettle · herA
- 7 ABAB rememberA · oldB · novemberA · coldB
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 short measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I cannot but remember | 7 | ·/˘·˘/˘ |
| When the year grows old-- | 5 | ····· |
| October--November-- | 6 | ˘/˘˘/˘ |
| How she disliked the cold! | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| She used to watch the swallows | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Go down across the sky, | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| And turn from the window | 6 | ····/˘ |
| With a little sharp sigh. | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| And often when the brown leaves | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Were brittle on the ground, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And the wind in the chimney | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Made a melancholy sound, | 7 | ··/˘·˘· |
| She had a look about her | 7 | ······· |
| That I wish I could forget-- | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| The look of a scared thing | 6 | ······ |
| Sitting in a net! | 5 | /˘··· |
| Oh, beautiful at nightfall | 7 | ·/˘˘·/· |
| The soft spitting snow! | 5 | ··/˘· |
| And beautiful the bare boughs | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| Rubbing to and fro! | 5 | /˘··· |
| But the roaring of the fire, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| And the warmth of fur, | 5 | ····· |
| And the boiling of the kettle | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Were beautiful to her! | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| I cannot but remember | 7 | ·/˘·˘/˘ |
| When the year grows old-- | 5 | ····· |
| October--November-- | 6 | ˘/˘˘/˘ |
| How she disliked the cold! | 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.