Analysis of In Winter
This morning's pavement ice invites
a broken hip as, wrapped up tight
against the gripping wind, I walk
with penguin steps towards the beach,
my dog in tow, to watch the sick
grey waves fold to dishwater foam.
The seaside counts for nothing, now
that summer's lease is spent and fall
has given up the ghost and fled,
just as the ruffled robin, that
pecks at an icy puddle, looks
more at home on the Christmas card
the postman brings, a flash of red
when all is bloodless, cold and dead.
Scheme | XXX XXX XXA XXX AA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11010101 01011111 01010111 11010101 11011101 111111 0111101 11011101 11010101 11010101 11110101 11110101 01010111 11110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 490 |
Words | 98 |
Sentences | 2 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 3, 3, 3, 3, 2 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 76 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 18 |
About this poem
I poem about venturing out early on a winter morning. The poem is syllabic. It uses enjambment between the verses. 'Given up the ghost' is a euphemism for dying found in the King James Bible. Ghost is an Old English word for spirit or soul.
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"In Winter" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 31 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/176875/in-winter>.
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