Winter Rain
Every valley drinks,Every dell and hollow:Where the kind rain sinks and sinks,Green of Spring will follow.
Yet a lapse of weeksBuds will burst their edges,Strip their wool-coats, glue-coats, streaks,In the woods and hedges;
Weave a bower of loveFor birds to meet each other,Weave a canopy aboveNest and egg and mother.
But for fattening rainWe should have no flowers,Never a bud or leaf againBut for soaking showers;
Never a mated birdIn the rocking tree-tops,Never indeed a flock or herdTo graze upon the lea-crops.
Lambs so woolly white,Sheep the sun-bright leas on,They could have no grass to biteBut for rain in season.
We should find no mossIn the shadiest places,Find no waving meadow grassPied with broad-eyed daisies:
But miles of barren sand,With never a son or daughter,Not a lily on the land,Or lily on the water.
Words in this poem
- dell n.
- A small, retired valley; a ravine. [AS. del, akin to E. dale; cf. D. delle, del, low ground. See Dale.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Winter Rain is in the public domain. This text is taken from Goblin Market, The Prince's Progress, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #16950; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Christina Rossetti, Winter Rain, in Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-goblin-market/winter-rain.html, id L04243.
Form and metre
Winter Rain is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 7 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.4 syllables. 13 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 31% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic trimeter.
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 drinksA · hollowB · sinksA · followB
- 2 ABAB weeksA · edgesB · streaksA · hedgesB
- 3 ABAB loveA · otherB · aboveA · motherB
- 4 ABAB rainA · flowersB · againA · showersB
- 5 ABAB birdA · topsB · herdA · cropsB
- 6 ABAB whiteA · onB · biteA · seasonB
- 8 ABAB sandA · daughterB · landA · waterB
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 trochaic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Every valley drinks, | 6 | /˘˘/˘· |
| Every dell and hollow: | 7 | /˘˘··/˘ |
| Where the kind rain sinks and sinks, | 7 | ······· |
| Green of Spring will follow. | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Yet a lapse of weeks | 5 | ····· |
| Buds will burst their edges, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Strip their wool-coats, glue-coats, streaks, | 7 | ······· |
| In the woods and hedges; | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Weave a bower of love | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| For birds to meet each other, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Weave a canopy above | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Nest and egg and mother. | 6 | ····/˘ |
| But for fattening rain | 6 | ··/˘˘· |
| We should have no flowers, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Never a bud or leaf again | 7 | /····˘/ |
| But for soaking showers; | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Never a mated bird | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| In the rocking tree-tops, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Never indeed a flock or herd | 7 | /˘/···· |
| To graze upon the lea-crops. | 7 | ······· |
| Lambs so woolly white, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Sheep the sun-bright leas on, | 6 | ······ |
| They could have no grass to bite | 7 | ······· |
| But for rain in season. | 6 | ····/˘ |
| We should find no moss | 5 | ····· |
| In the shadiest places, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Find no waving meadow grass | 7 | ··/˘/·· |
| Pied with broad-eyed daisies: | 6 | ····/˘ |
| But miles of barren sand, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| With never a son or daughter, | 7 | ·/···/˘ |
| Not a lily on the land, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Or lily on the water. | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
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.