Snow-bound: A Winter Idyl Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AB C C DEFGHIJKL MMNNDCOOPPQRRQSSFF TTUUVVWUXXYY ZZLLA2A2B2B2C2C2 D2GE2E2F2F2G2G2G2YYF 2F2H2H2YYYYYYI2I2F2F 2 J2K2L2L2M2F2F2M2YYYN 2N2H2H2O2O2YYYYYYP2P 2YY SSG2G2G2Q2Q2R2S2YYYY T2U2YYV2V2W2W2G2G2 YYX2X2Y2Y2Z2Z2YYA3A3 B3B3C3C3B2B2CCYYF2F2 CCC YYYD3D3D3Y2Y2YYF2F2 YYSSYYYYYYYYF2F2YYF2 F2YY YYF2F2MME3D2F3F3D2G2 F2F2F

To the Memory of the Household It DescribesA
This Poem is Dedicated by the AuthorB
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As the Spirits of Darkness be stronger in the dark so Good Spirits which be Angels of Light are augmented not only by the Divine lightof the Sun but also by our common Wood Fire and as the CelestialFire drives away dark spirits so also this our Fire of Wood doth thesame Cor Agrippa Occult PhilosophyC
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Book I ch vC
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Announced by all the trumpets of the skyD
Arrives the snow and driving o'er the fieldsE
Seems nowhere to alight the whited airF
Hides hills and woods the river and the heavenG
And veils the farm house at the garden's endH
The sled and traveller stopped the courier's feetI
Delayed all friends shut out the housemates sitJ
Around the radiant fireplace enclosedK
In a tumultuous privacy of Storm EMERSON The Snow StormL
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The sun that brief December dayM
Rose cheerless over hills of grayM
And darkly circled gave at noonN
A sadder light than waning moonN
Slow tracing down the thickening skyD
Its mute and ominous prophecyC
A portent seeming less than threatO
It sank from sight before it setO
A chill no coat however stoutP
Of homespun stuff could quite shut outP
A hard dull bitterness of coldQ
That checked mid vein the circling raceR
Of life blood in the sharpened faceR
The coming of the snow storm toldQ
The wind blew east we heard the roarS
Of Ocean on his wintry shoreS
And felt the strong pulse throbbing thereF
Beat with low rhythm our inland airF
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Meanwhile we did our nightly choresT
Brought in the wood from out of doorsT
Littered the stalls and from the mowsU
Raked down the herd's grass for the cowsU
Heard the horse whinnying for his cornV
And sharply clashing horn on hornV
Impatient down the stanchion rowsW
The cattle shake their walnut bowsU
While peering from his early perchX
Upon the scaffold's pole of birchX
The cock his crested helmet bentY
And down his querulous challenge sentY
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Unwarmed by any sunset lightZ
The gray day darkened into nightZ
A night made hoary with the swarmL
And whirl dance of the blinding stormL
As zigzag wavering to and froA2
Crossed and recrossed the wing d snowA2
And ere the early bedtime cameB2
The white drift piled the window frameB2
And through the glass the clothes line postsC2
Looked in like tall and sheeted ghostsC2
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So all night long the storm roared onD2
The morning broke without a sunG
In tiny spherule traced with linesE2
Of Nature's geometric signsE2
In starry flake and pellicleF2
All day the hoary meteor fellF2
And when the second morning shoneG2
We looked upon a world unknownG2
On nothing we could call our ownG2
Around the glistening wonder bentY
The blue walls of the firmamentY
No cloud above no earth belowF2
A universe of sky and snowF2
The old familiar sights of oursH2
Took marvellous shapes strange domes and towersH2
Rose up where sty or corn crib stoodY
Or garden wall or belt of woodY
A smooth white mound the brush pile showedY
A fenceless drift what once was roadY
The bridle post an old man satY
With loose flung coat and high cocked hatY
The well curb had a Chinese roofI2
And even the long sweep high aloofI2
In its slant spendor seemed to tellF2
Of Pisa's leaning miracleF2
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A prompt decisive man no breathJ2
Our father wasted Boys a pathK2
Well pleased for when did farmer boyL2
Count such a summons less than joyL2
Our buskins on our feet we drewM2
With mittened hands and caps drawn lowF2
To guard our necks and ears from snowF2
We cut the solid whiteness throughM2
And where the drift was deepest madeY
A tunnel walled and overlaidY
With dazzling crystal we had readY
Of rare Aladdin's wondrous caveN2
And to our own his name we gaveN2
With many a wish the luck were oursH2
To test his lamp's supernal powersH2
We reached the barn with merry dinO2
And roused the prisoned brutes withinO2
The old horse thrust his long head outY
And grave with wonder gazed aboutY
The cock his lusty greeting saidY
And forth his speckled harem ledY
The oxen lashed their tails and hookedY
And mild reproach of hunger lookedY
The horn d patriarch of the sheepP2
Like Egypt's Amun roused from sleepP2
Shook his sage head with gesture muteY
And emphasized with stamp of footY
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All day the gusty north wind boreS
The loosening drift its breath beforeS
Low circling round its southern zoneG2
The sun through dazzling snow mist shoneG2
No church bell lent its Christian toneG2
To the savage air no social smokeQ2
Curled over woods of snow hung oakQ2
A solitude made more intenseR2
By dreary voic d elementsS2
The shrieking of the mindless windY
The moaning tree boughs swaying blindY
And on the glass the unmeaning beatY
Of ghostly finger tips of sleetY
Beyond the circle of our hearthT2
No welcome sound of toil or mirthU2
Unbound the spell and testifiedY
Of human life and thought outsideY
We minded that the sharpest earV2
The buried brooklet could not hearV2
The music of whose liquid lipW2
Had been to us companionshipW2
And in our lonely life had grownG2
To have an almost human toneG2
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As night drew on and from the crestY
Of wooded knolls that ridged the westY
The sun a snow blown traveller sankX2
From sight beneath the smothering bankX2
We piled with care our nightly stackY2
Of wood against the chimney backY2
The oaken log green huge and thickZ2
And on its top the stout back stickZ2
The knotty forestick laid apartY
And filled between with curious artY
The ragged brush then hovering nearA3
We watched the first red blaze appearA3
Heard the sharp crackle caught the gleamB3
On whitewashed wall and sagging beamB3
Until the old rude furnished roomC3
Burst flower like into rosy bloomC3
While radiant with a mimic flameB2
Outside the sparkling drift becameB2
And through the bare boughed lilac treeC
Our own warm hearth seemed blazing freeC
The crane and pendent trammels showedY
The Turks' heads on the andirons glowedY
While childish fancy prompt to tellF2
The meaning of the miracleF2
Whispered the old rhyme Under the treeC
When fire outdoors burns merrilyC
There the witches are making teaC
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The moon above the eastern woodY
Shone at its full the hill range stoodY
Transfigured in the silver floodY
Its blown snows flashing cold and keenD3
Dead white save where some sharp ravineD3
Took shadow or the sombre greenD3
Of hemlocks turned to pitchy blackY2
Against the whiteness at their backY2
For such a world and such a nightY
Most fitting that unwarming lightY
Which only seemed where'er it fellF2
To make the coldness visibleF2
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Shut in from all the world withoutY
We sat the clean winged hearth aboutY
Content to let the north wind roarS
In baffled rage at pane and doorS
While the red logs before us beatY
The frost line back with tropic heatY
And ever when a louder blastY
Shook beam and rafter as it passedY
The merrier up its roaring draughtY
The great throat of the chimney laughedY
The house dog on his paws outspreadY
Laid to the fire his drowsy headY
The cat's dark silhouette on the wallF2
A couchant tiger's seemed to fallF2
And for the winter fireside meetY
Between the andirons' straddling feetY
The mug of cider simmered slowF2
The apples sputtered in a rowF2
And close at hand the basket stoodY
With nuts from brown October's woodY
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What matter how the night behavedY
What matter how the north wind ravedY
Blow high blow low not all its snowF2
Could quench our hearth fire's ruddy glowF2
O Time and Change with hair as grayM
As was my sire's that winter dayM
How strange it seems with so much goneE3
Of life and love to still live onD2
Ah brother only I and thouF3
Are left of all that circle nowF3
The dear home faces whereuponD2
That fitful firelight paled and shoneG2
Henceforward listen as we willF2
The voices of that hearth are stillF2
Look whereF

John Greenleaf Whittier



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