Winter
If he whose bosom with no transport swellsIn vernal airs and hours commits the crimeOf sullenness to Nature, 'gainst the Time,And its great RULER, he alike rebelsWho seriousness and pious dread repels,And aweless gazes on the faded Clime,Dim in the gloom, and pale in the hoar rimeThat o'er the bleak and dreary prospect steals.--Spring claims our tender, grateful, gay delight;Winter our sympathy and sacred fear;And sure the Hearts that pay not Pity's riteO'er wide calamity; that careless hearCreation's wail, neglect, amid her blight,
Words in this poem
- clime n.
- A climate; a tract or region of the earth. See Climate. [L. clima. See Climate.]
- hoar v. t.
- To become moldy or musty. [AS. harian to grow gray.]
- rime n.
- A rent or long aperture; a chink; a fissure; a crack. Sir T. [L. rima.]
- dreary a.
- Sorrowful; distressful. [OE. dreori, dreri, AS. dreórig, sad; akin to G. traurig, and prob. to AS. dreósan to fall, Goth. driusan. Cf. Dross, Drear, Drizzle, Drowse.]
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Winter is in the public domain. This text is taken from Original sonnets on various subjects; and odes paraphrased from Horace, Project Gutenberg ebook #27663; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Anna Seward, Winter, in Original Sonnets on Various Subjects (1799), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #27663, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seward-sonnets/winter.html, id L09790.
Form and metre
Winter is 13 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACDCDC. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 46% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABBAABBACDCDC swellsA · crimeB · timeB · rebelsA · repelsA · climeB · rimeB · stealsA · delightC · fearD · riteC · hearD · blightC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| If he whose bosom with no transport swells | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| In vernal airs and hours commits the crime | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/·· |
| Of sullenness to Nature, 'gainst the Time, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And its great RULER, he alike rebels | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘/ |
| Who seriousness and pious dread repels, | 10 | ·/˘˘˘·/·˘/ |
| And aweless gazes on the faded Clime, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Dim in the gloom, and pale in the hoar rime | 10 | ·········· |
| That o'er the bleak and dreary prospect steals.-- | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Spring claims our tender, grateful, gay delight; | 10 | ··//˘/˘·˘/ |
| Winter our sympathy and sacred fear; | 10 | /˘//˘˘·/˘· |
| And sure the Hearts that pay not Pity's rite | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| O'er wide calamity; that careless hear | 10 | ··˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| Creation's wail, neglect, amid her blight, | 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.