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Hard Frost

Frost called to the water Halt
And crushed the moist snow with sparkling salt;
Brooks, their one bridges, stop,
And icicles in long stalactites drop.
And tench in water-holes
Lurk under gluey glass like fish in bowls.

In the hard-rutted lane
At every footstep breaks a brittle pane,
And tinkling trees ice-bound,
Changed into weeping willows, sweep the ground;
Dead boughs take root in ponds
And ferns on windows shoot their ghostly fronds.

But vainly the fierce frost
Interns poor fish, ranks trees in an armed host,
Hangs daggers from house-eaves
And on the windows ferny ambush weaves;
In the long war grown warmer
The sun will strike him dead and strip his armour.

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Comments


  • June 13, 2007
    Edit | Reply

    whaaaaaaaat?

    From guest Chantelle (contact)
    i dont get hte main idea of this poem ... can somebody help me?? :) THANKKKKS


  • January 6, 2007
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    From guest Madison (contact)
    in the fourth and sixth line in stanza 2, does shoot and root count as rhyme or assonance?


    • I-Like-Rhymes Moderators member
      January 6, 2007
      Edit | Reply
      It is hard to have one without the other! In this case (lines 5 and 6 BTW) it is both, even though the rhyme is internal ie not the conventional end rhyme.