Analysis of The Winter Nosegay
William Cowper 1731 (Berkhamsted) – 1800 (Dereham)
What Nature, alas! has denied
To the delicate growth of our isle,
Art has in a measure supplied,
And winter is deck’d with a smile.
See, Mary, what beauties I bring
From the shelter of that sunny shed,
Where the flowers have the charms of the spring,
Though abroad they are frozen and dead.
'Tis a bower of Arcadian sweets,
Where Flora is still in her prime,
A fortress to which she retreats
From the cruel assaults of the clime.
While earth wears a mantle of snow,
These pinks are as fresh and as gay
As the fairest and sweetest that blow
On the beautiful bosom of May.
See how they have safely survived
The frowns of a sky so severe;
Such Mary’s true love, that has lived
Through many a turbulent year.
The charms of the late-blowing rose
Seem graced with a livelier hue;
And the winter of sorrow best shows
The truth of a friend such as you.
Scheme | ABABCDCD EFEFGHGH IJIJKLKL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Traditional rhyme |
Metre | 11001101 1010011101 11001001 01011101 11011011 101011101 1010101101 101111001 101011001 11011001 01011101 101001101 11101011 11111011 101001011 101001011 11111001 01101101 1111111 11001001 01101101 11101001 001011011 01101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 833 |
Words | 162 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 220 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 53 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 48 sec read
- 90 Views
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