Theme · 107 poems

Winter Poems

Snowy woods, low light, and the season's strange hush — poems to read when the year goes quiet, from carols to the bleakest lyrics in English.

Winter gets English poetry's best silences. Frost's 'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening' is the most perfect: four quatrains, a horse, "the darkest evening of the year", and a repeated last line that turns a pause in the snow into something much harder to name. Dickinson's 'There's a certain Slant of light' does the same work with the season's light instead of its weather, finding an "imperial affliction" in a winter afternoon.

The season has a warm register too. Christina Rossetti's 'In the Bleak Midwinter' became a carol because it holds cold and comfort in the same stanza — frosty wind, hard iron earth, and then a stable. Her 'Winter: My Secret' is the playful end of the spectrum. Choose by temperature: Frost and Dickinson for the year's quiet and the harder feelings, Rossetti for anything sung, read at a table, or given to a child.

LengthForm

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Robert Frost · 1923

Whose woods these are I think I know.His house is in the village though;He will not see me stopping here

16 lines · lyric

The Darkling Thrush

Thomas Hardy · 1900

I leant upon a coppice gateWhen Frost was spectre-gray,And Winter's dregs made desolate

32 lines · lyric

In the Bleak Midwinter

Christina Rossetti · 1872

1. In the bleak mid-winterFrosty wind made moan,Earth stood hard as iron,

40 lines · lyric

A Visit from St. Nicholas

Clement Clarke Moore · 1823

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro' the houseNot a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

56 lines · narrative

Winter under cultivation

Emily Dickinson

Winter under cultivationIs as arable as Spring.

2 lines · lyric

Snow on the Mailbox

The QuillOak Editors

snow on the mailbox —all the news the morning bringsis white, and silent

3 lines · haiku

Peace is a fiction of our Faith

Emily Dickinson

Peace is a fiction of our Faith —The Bells a Winter NightBearing the Neighbor out of Sound

4 lines · lyric

Winter (a Cinquain)

The QuillOak Editors

Wintersilent, silverdrifting, hushing, settling

5 lines · cinquain

Water, is taught by thirst

Emily Dickinson

Water, is taught by thirst.Land — by the Oceans passed.Transport — by throe —

6 lines · lyric

Stanza

Percy Bysshe Shelley

If I walk in Autumn's evenWhile the dead leaves pass,If I look on Spring's soft heaven, —

6 lines · lyric

To Friends At Home

Robert Louis Stevenson

TO friends at home, the lone, the admired, the lostThe gracious old, the lovely young, to MayThe fair, December the beloved,

6 lines · lyric

Snow Day

The QuillOak Editors

The radio said two words today,the finest ever spoken —no math, no bus, no spelling quiz,

8 lines · lyric

The Santa Stakeout

The QuillOak Editors

I planned my Santa stakeoutwith cocoa, snacks, and cheer;I practiced staying up past nine

8 lines · lyric

One Window's Glow

The QuillOak Editors

It isn't really wrapping,and it was never snow —it's every mile that's traveled

8 lines · lyric

A little Snow was here and there

Emily Dickinson

A little Snow was here and thereDisseminated in her Hair —Since she and I had met and played

8 lines · lyric

Absent Place—an April Day

Emily Dickinson

Absent Place — an April Day —Daffodils a-blowHomesick curiosity

8 lines · lyric

In snow thou comest

Emily Dickinson

In snow thou comest —Thou shalt go with the resuming ground,The sweet derision of the crow,

8 lines · lyric

Snow beneath whose chilly softness

Emily Dickinson

Snow beneath whose chilly softnessSome that never layMake their first Repose this Winter

8 lines · lyric

'Twas here my summer paused

Emily Dickinson

'Twas here my summer pausedWhat ripeness after thenTo other scene or other soul

8 lines · lyric

'Twas later when the summer went

Emily Dickinson

'Twas later when the summer wentThan when the Cricket came —And yet we knew that gentle Clock

8 lines · lyric

Twice had Summer her fair Verdure

Emily Dickinson

Twice had Summer her fair VerdureProffered to the Plain —Twice a Winter's silver Fracture

8 lines · lyric

Winter is good—his Hoar Delights

Emily Dickinson

Winter is good — his Hoar DelightsItalic flavor yieldTo Intellects inebriate

8 lines · lyric

The Winter it is Past

Robert Burns

THE WINTER it is past, and the summer comes at last And the small birds, they sing on ev’ry tree;Now ev’ry thing is glad, while I am very sad,

8 lines · lyric

Ah Sunflower

William Blake

Ah Sunflower, weary of time, Who countest the steps of the sun;Seeking after that sweet golden clime

8 lines · lyric

Dust of Snow

Robert Frost · 1923

The way a crowShook down on meThe dust of snow

8 lines · lyric

Snow flakes

Emily Dickinson

Snow flakes.I counted till they danced soTheir slippers leaped the town,

9 lines · lyric

Is it Well with the Child?

Christina Rossetti

SAFE where I cannot die yet, Safe where I hope to lie too,Safe from the fume and the fret;

10 lines · lyric

A Lament

Percy Bysshe Shelley

O world! O life! O time!On whose last steps I climb,Trembling at that where I had stood before;

10 lines · lyric

The Night is Darkening Around Me

Emily Brontë

The night is darkening round me,The wild winds coldly blow ;But a tyrant spell has bound me,

12 lines · lyric

Dying! Dying in the night!

Emily Dickinson

Dying! Dying in the night!Won't somebody bring the lightSo I can see which way to go

12 lines · lyric

I know a place where Summer strives

Emily Dickinson

I know a place where Summer strivesWith such a practised Frost —She — each year — leads her Daisies back —

12 lines · lyric

If pain for peace prepares

Emily Dickinson

If pain for peace preparesLo, what "Augustan" yearsOur feet await!

12 lines · lyric

Some, too fragile for winter winds

Emily Dickinson

Some, too fragile for winter windsThe thoughtful grave encloses —Tenderly tucking them in from frost

12 lines · lyric

To My Wife - With A Copy Of My Poems

Oscar Wilde

I can write no stately proemAs a prelude to my lay;From a poet to a poem

12 lines · lyric

To Constantia

Percy Bysshe Shelley

The rose that drinks the fountain dewIn the pleasant air of noon,Grows pale and blue with altered hue —

12 lines · lyric

Bed in Summer

Robert Louis Stevenson

In winter I get up at nightAnd dress by yellow candle-light.In summer quite the other way,

12 lines · lyric

I WHo All The Winter Through

Robert Louis Stevenson

I WHO all the winter throughCherished other loves than you,And kept hands with hoary policy in marriage-bed and pew;

12 lines · lyric

The Summer Sun Shone Round Me

Robert Louis Stevenson

THE summer sun shone round me,The folded valley layIn a stream of sun and odour,

12 lines · lyric

The Chimney Sweeper

William Blake

A little black thing in the snow,Crying "weep! weep!" in notes of woe!"Where are thy father and mother? Say!" —

12 lines · lyric

Lines to a Reviewer

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Alas, good friend, what profit can you seeIn hating such a hateless thing as me?There is no sport in hate where all the rage

13 lines · lyric

Farewell to the Highlands

Robert Burns

FAREWELL to the Highlands, farewell to the North,The birth-place of Valour, the country of Worth;Wherever I wander, wherever I rove,

13 lines · lyric

Sonnet 44 - Beloved, thou hast brought me many flowers

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Beloved, thou hast brought me many flowersPlucked in the garden, all the summer throughAnd winter, and it seemed as if they grew

14 lines · lyric

To the Nile

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Month after month the gathered rains descendDrenching yon secret Aethiopian dells,And from the desert's ice-girt pinnacles

14 lines · lyric

Sonnet on the Author’s Birthday

Robert Burns

SING on, sweet thrush, upon the leafless bough, Sing on, sweet bird, I listen to thy strain, See aged Winter, ’mid his surly reign,

14 lines · lyric

Farewell to the Court

Sir Walter Raleigh

Like truthless dreams, so are my joys expir'd,And past return are all my dandled days;My love misled, and fancy quite retir'd —

14 lines · lyric

Sonnet 13: O! that you were your self; but, love you are

William Shakespeare

O! that you were your self; but, love you areNo longer yours, than you your self here live:Against this coming end you should prepare,

14 lines · sonnet

Sonnet 5: Those hours, that with gentle work did frame

William Shakespeare

Those hours, that with gentle work did frameThe lovely gaze where every eye doth dwell,Will play the tyrants to the very same

14 lines · sonnet

Sonnet 56: Sweet love, renew thy force; be it not said

William Shakespeare

Sweet love, renew thy force; be it not saidThy edge should blunter be than appetite,Which but to-day by feeding is allay'd,

14 lines · sonnet

Sonnet 6: Then let not winter's ragged hand deface

William Shakespeare

Then let not winter's ragged hand deface,In thee thy summer, ere thou be distill'd:Make sweet some vial; treasure thou some place

14 lines · sonnet

Sonnet 97: How like a winter hath my absence been

William Shakespeare

How like a winter hath my absence beenFrom thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year!What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen!

14 lines · sonnet

Sonnet 98: From you have I been absent in the spring

William Shakespeare

From you have I been absent in the spring,When proud-pied April, dress'd in all his trim,Hath put a spirit of youth in every thing,

14 lines · sonnet

Variation of the Song of the Moon

Percy Bysshe Shelley

("PROMETHEUS UNBOUND", ACT 4.)As a violet's gentle eyeGazes on the azure sky

15 lines · lyric

To a Gentlewoman, Objecting to Him Hisgray Hairs

Robert Herrick

Am I despised, because you say;And I dare swear, that I am gray?Know, Lady, you have but your day!

15 lines · lyric

Sympathy

Emily Brontë

There should be no despair for youWhile nightly stars are burning,While evening pours its silent dew

16 lines · lyric

Besides the Autumn poets sing

Emily Dickinson

Besides the Autumn poets singA few prosaic daysA little this side of the snow

16 lines · lyric

He told a homely tale

Emily Dickinson

He told a homely taleAnd spotted it with tears —Upon his infant face was set

16 lines · lyric

The Snow that never drifts

Emily Dickinson

The Snow that never drifts —The transient, fragrant snowThat comes a single time a Year

16 lines · lyric

The Winters are so short

Emily Dickinson

The Winters are so short —I'm hardly justifiedIn sending all the Birds away —

16 lines · lyric

Lines to a Critic

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Honey from silkworms who can gather,Or silk from the yellow bee?The grass may grow in winter weather

16 lines · lyric

Farewell to Ballochmyle

Robert Burns

THE CATRINE woods were yellow seen, The flowers decay’d on Catrine lee,Nae lav’rock sang on hillock green,

16 lines · lyric

Common questions

What is the most famous winter poem?

Robert Frost's 'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening' — sixteen lines that turn a halt in the snow into one of the most-discussed endings in English poetry.

What is a good winter poem for children or for singing?

Christina Rossetti's 'In the Bleak Midwinter' — written as a poem and later set as a carol, so it reads aloud and sings equally well.