January Hymn

• By: The Decemberists
• Album: The King Is Dead

Lyrics:

Vocabulary in this song:

Vocabulary	Meanings
winter /ˈwɪntər/ A2	noun - the coldest season of the year adjective - relating to winter
snow /snoʊ/ A1	noun - frozen water that falls from the sky as white flakes verb - to fall as snow
green /ɡriːn/ A1	adjective - of the color between blue and yellow verb - to become green
away /əˈweɪ/ A1	adverb - to or at a distance
spend /spend/ A2	verb - to use time or money
words /wɜːrdz/ A1	noun - units of language that have meaning and can be spoken or written
breath /breθ/ B1	noun - the air inhaled or exhaled
lead /liːd/ B1	verb - to guide or direct
sing /sɪŋ/ A1	verb - to produce musical sounds with the voice
childhood /ˈtʃaɪldhʊd/ B1	noun - the state of being a child
teens /tiːnz/ A2	noun - the years of someone's life between 13 and 19
clothes /kloʊðz/ A1	noun - items worn to cover the body
pale /peɪl/ B1	adjective - light in color
dark /dɑːrk/ A1	adjective - having little or no light
wandering /ˈwɑːndərɪŋ/ B2	verb - moving from place to place without a fixed plan
gray /ɡreɪ/ A2	adjective - of a color between black and white
memorial /məˈmɔːriəl/ B2	adjective - serving to preserve the memory of a person or event noun - something, especially a structure, established to remind people of a person or event
fleeting /ˈfliːtɪŋ/ C1	adjective - lasting for a very short time

Grammar:

• To clear away the snow and green the ground below

  ➔ Infinitive of purpose

  ➔ The infinitive phrase "To clear away the snow" explains the purpose of going on a winter's Sunday.

• April, all an ocean away, is this the better way to spend the day?

  ➔ Inversion for emphasis / Rhetorical question

  ➔ The sentence inverts the standard subject-verb order ("Is this the better way...") to emphasize the question. It's also a rhetorical question, as the speaker likely already has an opinion on the matter.

• What were the words I meant to say before you left?

  ➔ Past perfect in embedded question / Reported Speech

  ➔ The embedded question uses the past perfect ("meant to say") because the speaker is referring to an intention that occurred before the person left.

• When I could see your breath lead where you were going to

  ➔ Modal verb 'could' to express past ability / Indirect question

  ➔ 'Could' expresses the speaker's past ability to see the breath. The 'where' clause functions as a noun clause, specifying the destination.

• Maybe I should just let it be and maybe it will all come back to me

  ➔ Modal verb 'should' for advice/suggestion; Future simple 'will' for prediction

  ➔ 'Should' expresses a suggestion to the speaker. 'Will' expresses a prediction about the future (the words coming back).

• How I lived a childhood in snow

  ➔ Subordinate clause as Subject complement

  ➔ This phrase is part of a larger structure such as 'Sing, oh, January hymn, (about) how I lived a childhood in snow'. The 'how' clause acts as a subject complement, describing the subject of the hymn.

• And all my teens in tow, stuffed in strata of clothes

  ➔ Participial phrase (reduced relative clause)

  ➔ "Stuffed in strata of clothes" is a participial phrase describing the state of the teens. It's a reduced form of a relative clause: "who were stuffed in strata of clothes".