This week’s choice is “Winter” by Walter de la Mare, and it reflects the current season.
The rayless sun,
Walter de la Mare (1873—1956)
Day’s journey done,
Sheds its last ebbing light
On fields in leagues of beauty spread
Unearthly white.
Poem 351. Winter
Clouded with snow
The cold winds blow,
And shrill on leafless bough
The robin with its burning breast
Alone sings now.
The rayless sun,
Day’s journey done,
Sheds its last ebbing light
On fields in leagues of beauty spread
Unearthly white.
Thick draws the dark,
And spark by spark,
The frost-fires kindle, and soon
Over that sea of frozen foam
Floats the white moon.
This is a short poem but de la Mare nonetheless ably conjures a wintry scene with snow lying thick on the ground and painting the whole world white. We can almost feel the bite of the cold wind and hear the shrill song of the robin, the only bird to be heard in a wilderness of frost.
We can see that it is the end of a chilly day: the “rayless sun/Day’s journey done” feebly lights the fields thickly covered in snow, stretching for miles: “leagues of beauty.” The sun sets and darkness comes swiftly, and the frost lying on the snow sparkles like minuscule fires as the moonlight shines on it.
I like this poem because it really evokes the sensations we feel on a cold evening with the sun setting across a “sea of frozen foam”.
The poem is one set for Key Stage 2 students in the UK and there is quite a good reading by Waggle Woods available on YouTube as well as a version set to music by Toby Darling.