Analysis of Blow, Northern Wind



Blow, northerne wynd,
    Send thou me my suetyng!
    Blow, northerne wynd,
      Blou, blou, blou!

Ichot a burde in bour{.e} bryht,
    That fully semly is on syht,
    Menskful maiden of myht,
      Feir ant fre to fond{.e};
    In al this wurhlich{.e} won,
  A burde of blod and of bon
  Never yete y nust{.e} non
    Lussomore in lond{.e}.

With lokk{.e}s lefliche and long{.e},
  With frount and fac{.e} feir to fong{.e},
  With murth{.e}s moni{.e} mote heo mong{.e},
    That brid so breme in bour{.e};
  With lossom ey{.e}, grete ant god{.e},
  With browen blysfol under hod{.e};
  He that reste him on the rod{.e}
    That leflich lyf honour{.e}!

Hire lur{.e} lum{.e}s liht
  Ase a launterne a nyht,
  Hire bleo blykyeth so bryht:
    So feyr heo is ant fyn!
  A suetly suyre heo hath to hold{.e},
  With arm{.e}s, shuldr{.e}, ase mon wold{.e},
  Ant fyngres feyr{.e} fort{.e} fold{.e},
    God wolde hue wer{.e} myn!

Middel heo hath menskful smal;
  Hire loveliche cher{.e} as cristal;
  They{.e}s, legg{.e}s, fet, ant al,
    Ywraht is of the best{.e}.
  A lussum ledy last{.e}les
  That sweting is, and ever wes;
  A betere burd{.e} never nes
    Yhery{.e}d with the hest{.e}.

Heo is der{.e}worthe in day,
  Gracious{.e}, stout, and gay,
  Gentil, jolyf so the jay,
    Worhlich{.e} when heo waketh.
  Maiden murgest of mouth;
  Bi est, bi west, by north and south,
  Thér nis fithel{.e} ne crouth
    That such murth{.e}s maketh.

Heo is coral of godness{.e},
  Heo is rubie of ryhtfulness{.e},
  Heo is cristal of clanness{.e},
    Ant baner of bealté;
  Heo is lilie of largess{.e},
  Heo is paruenke of prouess{.e},
  Heo is solsecle of suetness{.e},
    Ant ledy of lealté.

...
    For hir{.e} love y carke ant car{.e},
  For hir{.e} love y droupne ant dar{.e},
  For hir{.e} love my blisse is bar{.e},
    Ant al ich wax{.e} won;
  For hir{.e} love in slep y slak{.e},
  For hir{.e} love al nyht ich wak{.e},
  For hir{.e} love mournynge y mak{.e}
    Mor{.e} then eny mon.


Scheme AbAc aaadeffd dddddddd aaaeddde cccdgggd abxhhhhh dddaddda dddedddx
Poetic Form
Metre 111 11111 111 111 1010111 1101111 11011 111111 011111 0111011 1011111 1011 11111011 110111111 1111111111 1111011 11111111 1111011 11111011 11111 10111111 10101 101111 111111 01111111 1111111111 11111111 111111 11111 10111110 111111111 111011 011111 1110101 0111101 1111011 1111101 101101 11101 11111 10111 101111101 11111111 111111 1110111 1110111 1110111 1111 1111101 111111 111111 1111 1 111111111 111111111 111111111 111111 111101111 111111111 11111111 11111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,964
Words 373
Sentences 75
Stanzas 8
Stanza Lengths 4, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 9
Lines Amount 61
Letters per line (avg) 21
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 159
Words per stanza (avg) 39
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:52 min read
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