Poems About The Cold Weather
The best poems about winter from Shakespeare to Sylvia PlathWinter is a-coming in, so how about some poetry to reflect the season of cold frosts and snowy landscapes? Whether it’s falling snow or cold evenings, poets have often been drawn to the wintry season. Here are ten of the best winter poems, from Thomas Hardy’s New Year meditation to Christina Rossetti’s classic Christmas carol. As you might expect, snow features heavily in many of these poems, so wrap up warm before you click on the links provided (on the title of each poem) and start reading.
What do you think is the best poem about winter? Any suggestions? If you like these poems, check out our pick of.Thomas Hardy, ‘‘. Composed on the last day of 1900 – and also, therefore, on the final day of the nineteenth century (if you follow the convention that the twentieth century began in 1901, that is) – ‘The Darkling Thrush’ takes a single frost-ridden scene, a moment of wintry wonder, and meditates upon its meaning.
Here, of ‘unhope’: the speaker wants to share the hope he detects in the thrush’s ‘full-hearted evensong’, but – much like the speaker of – he cannot quite find it in his heart to be optimistic.Anonymous, ‘‘. This medieval lyric didn’t feature in, but it easily could have. It’s a sorrowful lyric about the barrenness of nature during the cold winter months, with the speaker turning to God to save him from the hardships and worrying thoughts that grip him during these hard, cruel months – especially the brevity of all life, including human life. One of the earliest -and, for our money, the finest – of all winter poems in the English language.Christina Rossetti, ‘‘. We also include this, but it’s also a classic winter poem so it earns its place on this list as well. ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ was actually first published under the title ‘A Christmas Carol’, but it has since become known by its first line, especially after the popularity of several musical settings of the poem. For more Christmas poems, we recommend this excellent anthology,.
(We have a.)Emily Dickinson, ‘‘. A beautiful description of the way snow obscures familiar objects, rendering them strange and ghostly to us. Who but Dickinson would have thought to describe snow as ‘alabaster wool’? We’ve compiled here. (We also discuss Dickinson – and the fact that she was more famous in her lifetime as a gardener than as a poet – in our book of literary trivia,.)William Shakespeare,. This from uses winter imagery to describe the speaker’s absence from his lover. The poem goes on to bring in other seasons – notably autumn – but in the final line winter returns, so we’d say this qualifies as a great winter poem.Louis MacNeice, ‘‘.
This short poem from one of the ‘‘ takes an altogether more traditional subject: the snow falling outside. Worth reading for the astonishing language-use in the fourth line alone: ‘World is suddener than we fancy it.’ MacNeice also features in our.Philip Larkin, ‘‘. This short lyric from Britain’s best-loved lugubrious poet is, unaware of the ‘immeasurable surprise’ that nature has in store for them – such as the bright brilliance, sunshine, and flowering of spring. (We’ve picked here.)T. This 1927 poem was originally commissioned to be included in a Christmas card (or pamphlet). Eliot wrote the poem – about the Magi’s journey to visit the infant Christ – at the request of his publisher, Faber and Faber, who wanted a poem to go inside a series of shilling greeting-cards. Unlike many of his poems, Eliot. The poem is about the journey of the ‘Three Wise Men’ to visit the baby Jesus.
Poems About The Cold Weather Girl
Told as a dramatic monologue, the poem cleverly includes details that will later have significance in the life of Jesus Christ – the ‘pieces of silver’ Judas received for betraying Jesus, for instance – whose significance the speaker cannot recognise at the time.Robert Frost, ‘‘. In this poem you can see so well: ‘Desert Places’ shows how much of Frost’s influence Thomas absorbed. Although he’s better known for, this is a gem of a winter poem from the aptly named Frost.Sylvia Plath, ‘‘. A slightly different kind of ‘winter’, this: a nuclear winter. Written in 1960 and infused with Cold War and environmentalist elements, ‘Waking in Winter’ offers a bleak vision of a post-nuclear winter where the sky doesn’t just look like tin – the whole atmosphere tastes metallic, too. ‘Waking in Winter’ examines the bleakness of a winter created by man rather than nature – of ‘destructions, annihilations’.If you’re looking for more great poems, the best anthology of English poetry out there, in our opinion is the superb, edited by Christopher Ricks.Continue your wintry poetic odyssey with, our, our best, and the.
Poems About The Cold Weather Full
You might also enjoy our. For a change of season, check out.Our new book, is out now, published by John Murray. More about the book can be found.Image (top): Winter scene taken at Shipka Pass in Bulgaria in January 2006, by Psy guy;. Image (bottom): Tree and bench in snow, by siddu;.