This Poem Is Dedicated
"As the Spirits of Darkness be stronger in the dark, so GoodSpirits which be Angels of Light are augmented not only by theDivine light of the Sun, but also by our common VVood Fire: andas the Celestial Fire drives away dark spirits, so also this ourFire of VVood doth the same."
COR. AGRIPPA, Occult Philosophy, Book I. chap. v.
"Announced by all the trumpets of the sky,Arrives the snow; and, driving o'er the fields,Seems nowhere to alight; the whited airHides hills and woods, the river and the heaven,And veils the farm-house at the garden's end.The sled and traveller stopped, the courier's feetDelayed, all friends shut out, the housemates sitAround the radiant fireplace, enclosedIn a tumultuous privacy of storm."
Words in this poem
- trumpets n.
- A plant (Sarracenia flava) with long, hollow leaves.
- nowhere adv.
- Not anywhere; not in any place or state; as, the book is nowhere to be found. [AS. nahwær. See No, and Where.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
This Poem Is Dedicated is in the public domain. This text is taken from Snow-bound, Project Gutenberg ebook #20226; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Greenleaf Whittier, This Poem Is Dedicated, in Snow-Bound (1866), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #20226, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whittier-snow-bound/this-poem-is-dedicated.html, id L26123.
Form and metre
This Poem Is Dedicated is 15 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 72%).
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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| "As the Spirits of Darkness be stronger in the dark, so Good | 15 | ··/˘·/˘·/˘····· |
| Spirits which be Angels of Light are augmented not only by the | 17 | /˘··/˘···˘/˘·/˘·· |
| Divine light of the Sun, but also by our common VVood Fire: and | 16 | ˘/·····/˘·//˘·/· |
| as the Celestial Fire drives away dark spirits, so also this our | 17 | ··˘/˘/·˘/·/˘·/˘·/ |
| Fire of VVood doth the same." | 7 | /˘····· |
| COR. AGRIPPA, Occult Philosophy, Book I. chap. v. | 13 | ·˘/˘˘/˘/˘···· |
| "Announced by all the trumpets of the sky, | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| Arrives the snow; and, driving o'er the fields, | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| Seems nowhere to alight; the whited air | 10 | ·/··˘/·/˘· |
| Hides hills and woods, the river and the heaven, | 10 | ·····/˘··/ |
| And veils the farm-house at the garden's end. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The sled and traveller stopped, the courier's feet | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Delayed, all friends shut out, the housemates sit | 11 | ˘/········· |
| Around the radiant fireplace, enclosed | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| In a tumultuous privacy of storm." | 9 | ···/˘/˘·· |
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.