Analysis of December

John Clare 1793 (Helpston) – 1864 (St Andrew's Hospital)



While snow the window-panes bedim,
The fire curls up a sunny charm,
Where, creaming o'er the pitcher's rim,
The flowering ale is set to warm;
Mirth, full of joy as summer bees,
Sits there, its pleasures to impart,
And children, 'tween their parent's knees,
Sing scraps of carols o'er by heart.

And some, to view the winter weathers,
Climb up the window-seat with glee,
Likening the snow to falling feathers,
In fancy infant ecstasy;
Laughing, with superstitious love,
O'er visions wild that youth supplies,
Of people pulling geese above,
And keeping Christmas in the skies.

As tho' the homestead trees were drest,
In lieu of snow, with dancing leaves,
As tho' the sun-dried martin's nest,
Instead of ickles, hung the eaves,
The children hail the happy day -
As if the snow were April's grass,
And pleas'd, as 'neath the warmth of May,
Sport o'er the water froze as glass.


Scheme AAAABCBC DEDEFGFG CHXHXIAI
Poetic Form
Metre 1101011 010110101 11100101 010011111 11111101 11110101 01011101 111101011 011101010 11010111 1000111010 01010100 1010101 101011101 11010101 01010001 1101101 01111101 11011101 0111101 01010101 11010101 01110111 110010111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 856
Words 152
Sentences 4
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 28
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 224
Words per stanza (avg) 50
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

48 sec read
118

John Clare

John Clare was an English poet in his time he was commonly known as the Northamptonshire Peasant Poet more…

All John Clare poems | John Clare Books

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