The Winter Soul Among Wisteria - Sloan Warner

One need not read her horoscope to know
this woman’s fate, and though wisteria
cascades sweet blooms of lavender like snow
outside her door, it’s still Siberia
pervading the dimensions of her mind,
for not one fickle thought or patch of moss
can thrive where bleakest shadows are enshrined.
No bittersweet, no dewdrops… only loss
surrounds her heart. She tries to reminisce,
but like a barren continent grown cold,
she can’t perceive one particle of bliss.
She’s clasping grief and cannot be consoled!
Wisteria’s perfume is in the breeze,
but in her soul remains a winter’s freeze.




I would have to say that "The Winter Soul Among Wisteria" would most identify with a Shakespearean Sonnet; however, it has a few differences. Throughout the poem, there is a consistent AB rhyme scheme from line one all the way down until the final couplet which goes AA, thus the rhyme scheme in total is ABABCDCDEFEFGG. Moreover, there are iams all the way through the poem which is also very Shakespearean and a couplet at the end; however, this a lack of 3 quatrains which is classic Shakespearean poetry which would be the modification of the poem. The volta can be identified in the final couplet which is also typical Shakespeare. This style of poetry is normally used in poems to convey love, but it can be determined from the couplet that this poem is quite the opposite of love. It is actually about a desolate soul which is still so depressed despite being surrounded great smells and sights of wisteria.