Putting my pedant's hat on (and I am deeply pedantic about avoiding ambiguous language on something as technical as meter!), it's more accurate to describe "slow" as being in an offbeat position - and as it *is* stressed, it's simplest of all to call it a stressed offbeat!
Also, it's confusing to refer to "thickening" and "ominous" as "three-beat substitutions": they have three syllables, not three beats! Only the first syllable of each word is a beat. Arguably, they're metrically contracted to two syllables: I find the compaction of "thick'ning" highly expressive in this case!
Talking of substitutions, there are only three displaced beats in the passages you've shared, and they're all charming little catches at line openings, lending expression to some element of dynamism:
BEAT with LOW RHYthm...
CROSSED and RECROSSED...
IN its SLANT SPLENdor...
(According to conventional foot division, these would be described as trochee-spondee combinations; I call them "catches"!)
I love his voice! There's real warmth combined with a wry humour! Thank you so much for sharing!
Putting my pedant's hat on (and I am deeply pedantic about avoiding ambiguous language on something as technical as meter!), it's more accurate to describe "slow" as being in an offbeat position - and as it *is* stressed, it's simplest of all to call it a stressed offbeat!
Also, it's confusing to refer to "thickening" and "ominous" as "three-beat substitutions": they have three syllables, not three beats! Only the first syllable of each word is a beat. Arguably, they're metrically contracted to two syllables: I find the compaction of "thick'ning" highly expressive in this case!
Talking of substitutions, there are only three displaced beats in the passages you've shared, and they're all charming little catches at line openings, lending expression to some element of dynamism:
BEAT with LOW RHYthm...
CROSSED and RECROSSED...
IN its SLANT SPLENdor...
(According to conventional foot division, these would be described as trochee-spondee combinations; I call them "catches"!)
I love his voice! There's real warmth combined with a wry humour! Thank you so much for sharing!
Actually, for many of us, Whittier's most identifiable poem is his tale of "the barefoot boy with cheek of tan".
brief December day - yes, that sums up exactly the winter days of less hours of sunlight
I always like the very fitting images you and Sally use to accompany the poems.
Beautiful poem. We never had _that_ much snow where I grew up in Kansas, but it reminds me of many a cold wintry day and high drifts.