Winter Fancies
Winter withoutAnd warmth within;The winds may shoutAnd the storm begin;The snows may packAt the window pane,And the skies grow black,And the sun remainHidden awayThe livelong day--But here--in here is the warmth of May!
Swoop your spitefullestUp the flue,Wild Winds--do!What in the world do I care for you?O delightfullestWeather of all,Howl and squall,And shake the trees till the last leaves fall!
The joy one feels,In an easy chair,Cocking his heelsIn the dancing airThat wreathes the rim of a roaring stoveWhose heat loves better than hearts can love,Will not permitThe coldest dayTo drive awayThe fire in his blood, and the bliss of it!
Then blow, Winds, blow!And rave and shriek,And snarl and snowTill your breath grows weak--While here in my roomI'm as snugly shutAs a glad little wormIn the heart of a nut!
Words in this poem
- pane n.
- The narrow edge of a hammer head. See Peen. [F. panne.]
- livelong a.
- Whole; entire; long in passing; -- used of time, as day or night, in adverbial phrases, and usually with a sense of tediousness. [For lifelong. Cf. Lifelong.]
- swoop v. t.
- To fall on at once and seize; to catch while on the wing; as, a hawk swoops a chicken. [OE. swopen, usually, to sweep, As. swapan to sweep, to rush; akin to G. schweifen to rove, to ramble, to curve, OHG. sweifan to whirl, Icel. sveipa to sweep; al]
- cocking n.
- Cockfighting. Ben Jonson.
- snugly adv.
- In a snug manner; closely; safely.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Winter Fancies is in the public domain. This text is taken from Riley Child-Rhymes, Project Gutenberg ebook #9777; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: James Whitcomb Riley, Winter Fancies, in Riley Child-Rhymes (1890), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9777, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/riley-child-rhymes/winter-fancies.html, id L25047.
Form and metre
Winter Fancies is 37 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
See other poems in iambic dimeter.
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 ABABCDCDEEE withoutA · withinB · shoutA · beginB · packC · paneD · blackC · remainD · awayE · dayE · mayE
- 2 ABBBACCC spitefullestA · flueB · doB · youB · delightfullestA · allC · squallC · fallC
- 3 ABAB--CDDC feelsA · chairB · heelsA · airB · stove · love · permitC · dayD · awayD · itC
- 4 ABAB-C-C blowA · shriekB · snowA · weakB · room · shutC · worm · nutC
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 dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Winter without | 4 | /˘·· |
| And warmth within; | 4 | ···· |
| The winds may shout | 4 | ···· |
| And the storm begin; | 5 | ···˘/ |
| The snows may pack | 4 | ···· |
| At the window pane, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| And the skies grow black, | 5 | ····· |
| And the sun remain | 5 | ···˘/ |
| Hidden away | 4 | /˘˘/ |
| The livelong day-- | 4 | ·/˘· |
| But here--in here is the warmth of May! | 9 | ········· |
| Swoop your spitefullest | 5 | ··/˘˘ |
| Up the flue, | 3 | ··· |
| Wild Winds--do! | 3 | ··· |
| What in the world do I care for you? | 9 | ········· |
| O delightfullest | 5 | ·˘/˘˘ |
| Weather of all, | 4 | /˘·· |
| Howl and squall, | 3 | ··· |
| And shake the trees till the last leaves fall! | 9 | ········· |
| The joy one feels, | 4 | ···· |
| In an easy chair, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Cocking his heels | 4 | /˘·· |
| In the dancing air | 5 | ··/˘· |
| That wreathes the rim of a roaring stove | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Whose heat loves better than hearts can love, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Will not permit | 4 | ··˘/ |
| The coldest day | 4 | ·/˘· |
| To drive away | 4 | ··˘/ |
| The fire in his blood, and the bliss of it! | 10 | ·/········ |
| Then blow, Winds, blow! | 4 | ···· |
| And rave and shriek, | 4 | ···· |
| And snarl and snow | 4 | ···· |
| Till your breath grows weak-- | 5 | ····· |
| While here in my room | 5 | ····· |
| I'm as snugly shut | 5 | ··/˘· |
| As a glad little worm | 6 | ···/˘· |
| In the heart of a nut! | 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.