Winter: a Dirge by Robert Burns
The speaker portrays a violent winter landscape of wind, hail, rain, sleet, snow, and a swollen burn roaring down between its banks, while birds and animals hide from the bleak day. Unlike others who fear such weather, the speaker cherishes the dark, stormy season because its desolation reflects and seems to share his grief. The leafless trees especially resemble his own fate. Addressing the Supreme Power whose design has brought about his suffering, he accepts that his sorrows must be for the best because they are part of that will, and asks not for denied enjoyment but for the strength to resign himself to it.
By Robert Burns · First published 1787 · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Nature Poetry, Elegiac Poetry · 234 words
First lines
The wintry west extends his blast, / And hail and rain does blaw; / Or the stormy north sends driving forth / The blinding sleet and snaw: / While, tumbling brown, the burn comes down, / And roars frae bank to brae; / And bird and beast in covert rest, / And pass the heartless day.
"The sweeping blast, the sky o'ercast," / The joyless winter day / Let others fear, to me more dear / Than all the pride of May: / The tempest's howl, it soothes my soul, / My griefs it seems to join; / The leafless trees my fancy please, / Their fate resembles mine!
What this Textopian page supports
Winter: a Dirge is listed on Textopian as a poem by Robert Burns, dated 1787 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Robert Burns
- Date: 1787 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Lyric Poetry, Nature Poetry, Elegiac Poetry, Devotional Poetry, Pastoral Poetry
- Length: 234 words
- Structure: 1 section, 3 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for Winter: a Dirge by Robert Burns
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
- Passage-specific claims should cite the exact /read/ URL for the relevant chapter or paragraph
Similar titles
- At Middle Field Gate In February by Thomas Hardy
- Soon Our Friends Perish by Robert Louis Stevenson
- I Now O Friend Whom Noiselessly The Snows by Robert Louis Stevenson
- He Seeks In Vain To Mitigate His Woe Sel Pensier Che Mi Strugge by Francesco Petrarca
- Arcadian Winter by Willa Cather
- A December Day by Sara Teasdale
Genres
- Lyric Poetry — The poem is a short, highly personal meditation in verse, emphasizing the speaker's emotional response to winter and grief rather than narrative action.
- Nature Poetry — Its imagery centers on harsh winter weather, including wind, hail, sleet, snow, swollen streams, animals, and leafless trees.
- Elegiac Poetry — The speaker's melancholy, sense of loss, and identification with barren winter landscapes give the poem an elegiac emotional character.
- Devotional Poetry — The final stanza directly addresses a supreme divine power, accepting suffering as God's will and requesting the strength to resign oneself to it.
Tags
winter · storm · Scottish landscape · bleak weather · wind · hail · sleet · snow · swollen stream · sheltering animals · leafless trees · nature and emotion