This is a traditional sonnet comprised of fourteen rhymed lines of ten syllables. Each line has five feet consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one, indicating the poem was written in iambic pentameter. The seven rhyming pairs are set out in the scheme introduced by Surrey; ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.
The opening line is an example of enjambement. It is only by continuing to the second line that the reader will find out which time of year the poet refers to. The first quatrain introduces a metaphor of the year to stand for his life. The images presented are those of winter.…
