Winter, A Season In Verse

by William Blake, Thomas Hardy, Eugene Field

Poetry is a fascinating use of language. With almost a million words at its command it is not surprising that these Isles have produced some of the most beautiful, moving and descriptive verse through the centuries. In this series we look at each season through the eyes and minds of our most gifted poets to bring you a guide to the days within each. At this time of the year as the nights close in and the temperature drops Winter seems like a season that nobody really enjoys and we look forward all the more to Spring. For many children however it is the bounty of Christmas that steals their attention and for others the renewal of the New Year. But for Nature it is pause for breath, to take stock of what has gone by in the year to date and ready herself for the energies and dramatic development to the landscape that Spring will bring. But Winter has its beauty too; the frost or snow covered ground, the grey swell of a winters sea and the bleak yet beautiful imagery of the landscape. Our collection of poems brings together the talents of many best loved poets such as Thomas Hardy, Robert Browning, Emily Dickinson and Emily Jane Bronte who catalogue and celebrate the season and its feelings in unique and telling ways. Many of the poems are also available as an audiobook from our sister company Portable Poetry. Many samples are at our youtube channel The full volume can be purchased from iTunes, Amazon and other digital stores. Among the readers are Richard Mitchley and Ghizela Rowe

Genres: Poetry

107 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 24, 2013

About the author

William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake's work is today considered seminal and significant in the history of both poetry and the visual arts.

Blake's prophetic poetry has been said to form "what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of poetry in the language". His visual artistry has led one modern critic to proclaim him "far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced." Although he only once travelled any further than a day's walk outside London over the course of his life, his creative vision engendered a diverse and symbolically rich corpus, which embraced 'imagination' as "the body of God", or "Human existence itself".

Once considered mad for his idiosyncratic views, Blake is highly regarded today for his expressiveness and creativity, and the philosophical and mystical currents that underlie his work. His work has been characterized as part of the Romantic movement, or even "Pre-Romantic", for its largely having appeared in the 18th century. Reverent of the Bible but hostile to the established Church, Blake was influenced by the ideals and ambitions of the French and American revolutions, as well as by such thinkers as Emanuel Swedenborg.

Despite these known influences, the originality and singularity of Blake's work make it difficult to classify. One 19th century scholar characterised Blake as a "glorious luminary", "a man not forestalled by predecessors, nor to be classed with contemporaries, nor to be replaced by known or readily surmisable successors."