Analysis of A World of Quiet Beauty

Doug Haberman 1959 (Albuquerque, NM)

Ode


White sleeps in furrows and in folds
Crystalline, while the sun’s pale gold
Ice-cold air becomes a breeze
Stirring the branches of skeletal trees

As every river strains to run
The weaker light beams of the sun
Tease thin shadows out at dusk
Making the landscape all the more hushed

The frosted surface may retain
Reflected light so bright it burns
Yet every shift in the terrain
Replaces edges with softening curves

And when the laden clouds regroup
There’s silence as the snowflakes fall
And build their layers on each roof
On leafless tree limbs, on boundary walls

The hands of wind and water
Give the winter shape
Entrancing unlike any other season

The cast the landscape takes
The subtle, soothing palette
Of snow in all its shades,
When set against the bluest sky,
Can steal our breath away

So serene
This winter scene
Enchanted land
Evoking dreams
So serene
This winter scene
A world of quiet beauty


Scheme xxaa bbxx cxcx xxxx xxb xxxxx DDxxDDx
Poetic Form
Metre 1101001 1010111 1110101 1001011001 110010111 01011101 111111 10011011 01010101 01011111 110010001 0101011001 01010101 1101011 01110111 1101111001 0111010 10101 101101010 01011 0101010 110111 11010101 1110101 101 1101 0101 0101 101 1101 0111010
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 915
Words 166
Sentences 1
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 3, 5, 7
Lines Amount 31
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 106
Words per stanza (avg) 23

About this poem

An ode to snowy winters

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Written on November 13, 2022

Submitted by DougHaberman on November 13, 2022

Modified on April 09, 2023

49 sec read
61

Doug Haberman

Retired high school humanities teacher who loves to write song lyrics. Now trying my hand at poetry writing. more…

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