Analysis of The Bee's Winter Retreat

Charlotte Smith 1749 (London) – 1806 (Tilford, Surrey)



Go, while the summer suns are bright,
Take at large thy wandering flight,
Go, and load thy tiny feet
With every rich and various sweet;
Cling around the flowering thorn,
Dive in the woodbine's honey'd horn,
Seek the wild rose that shades the dell,
Explore the foxglove's freckled bell;
Or in the heath-flower's fairy cup,
Drink the fragrant spirit up,
But when the meadows shall be mown,
And summer's garlands overblown,
Then come, thou little busy bee,
And let thy homestead be with me:-
There, shelter'd by the straw-built hive,
In my garden thou shalt live,
And that garden shall supply
Thy delicious alchymy;-
There, for thee, in autumn, blows
The Indian pink and latest rose,
The mignonette perfumes the air,
And stocks, unfading flowers, are there.

Yet fear not when the tempests come,
And drive thee to thy waxen home,
That I shall then, most treacherously,
For thy honey murder thee:-
Oh, no! -throughout the winter drear
I'll feed thee, that another year
Thou may'st renew thy industry
Among the flowers, thou busy bee.


Scheme AABBCCDDEECXFFGGXHIIJJ HHDFJXFF
Poetic Form Etheree  (30%)
Metre 11010111 11111001 1011101 1100101001 10101001 100111 10111101 0101101 10011101 1010101 1101111 010101 11110101 0111111 11010111 0110111 0110101 10101 1110101 010010101 010101 0111011 1111011 0111111 111111 1110101 11010101 11110101 111011100 010101101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,013
Words 180
Sentences 4
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 22, 8
Lines Amount 30
Letters per line (avg) 27
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 401
Words per stanza (avg) 88
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

56 sec read
71

Charlotte Smith

Charlotte Turner Smith was an English Romantic poet and novelist. She initiated a revival of the English sonnet, helped establish the conventions of Gothic fiction, and wrote political novels of sensibility. A successful writer, she published ten novels, three books of poetry, four children's books, and other assorted works over the course of her career. She saw herself as a poet first and foremost, poetry at that period being considered the most exalted form of literature. Scholars now credit her with transforming the sonnet into an expression of woeful sentiment. more…

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