A Poem for Every Winter Day

A Poem for Every Season

by Allie Esiri

Within the pages of Allie Esiri's gorgeous collection, A Poem for Every Winter Day, you will find verse that will transport you to sparkling winter scenes, taking you from bonfire night, to Christmas and the joys of Valentines Day.
Perfect for reading aloud and sharing with all the family, this book dazzles with an array of familiar favourites and remarkable new discoveries selected from Allie Esiri's bestselling poetry anthologies A Poem for Every Day of the Year and A Poem for Every Night of the Year. These seasonal poems - together with introductory paragraphs - have a link to the date on which they appear.
Includes poems by Mary Oliver, Edgar Allan Poe, Thomas Hardy, E. E. Cummings and Robert Burns who sit alongside Joseph Coelho, George the Poet, Benjamin Zephaniah and Jackie Kay. This soul-enhancing book will keep you company for every day of winter.

Genres: Poetry, Christmas, Classics, Anthologies, Nonfiction, Holiday

288 pages, Paperback

First published October 29, 2020

Reviews

[Jennifer ~ TarHeelReader · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was recommended to me by a friend when I made a request for comfort read suggestions. Another friend had added Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver to my nightstand (LOVE; review coming soon), which reignited my love for poetry. A Poem for Every Winter Day has been the perfect way to continue reading a bit of poetry each day.

I like that there are short introductions to the poems sharing why they were chosen for that particular day or background about them. There are two poems per day, some with poets of which I’m familiar, and some new-to-me. I’ve been darting the ones I love most, and the book is filling up with darts. I’ve enjoyed it so much, I went ahead and purchased the other seasons to keep this going. I’ve gotten “behind” a few times, but no stress, because I can either read the one I missed or know I will circle back around to them another season. Highly recommend if you’d like to add a little poetry into your life.

Many of my reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com and instagram: www.instagram.com/tarheelreader

[Jasmine]

No date, no rating - DNF

This was just not what I expected. I was waiting for wintry, festive poetry that made me feel all kinds of fuzzy, but I got poems about napoleon and Pearl harbour. It just wasn’t what I was expecting when I read the synopsis. I understand trying to root the collection in reality but this just wasn’t interesting enough to make me want to continue reading it for 3 whole months.

Thank you to Book Break/Pan Macmillan and Allie Esiri for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

[Anna Petruk · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a beautiful book, but mostly a disappointment. Given the name of this anthology, I expected this to be a collection of seasonal poems. And there were some, but way too few for my taste. I also have Poem for Every Night of the Year by the same author and was dismayed to discover these seasonal volumes are actually just her yearly anthologies broken up into 4 books. So I have duplicate content on my hands. Thankfully, I didn't buy all 4 of these!

There were a lot of poems dedicated to events that happened on a particular day, e.g. on Dec 1 Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus; on Dec 2 Napoleon fought the battle of Austerlitz; on Dec 5 the American ship Mary Celeste was discovered washed up somewhere; Dec 17 the first aeroplane flight took place, etc. - so that's what the poems are dedicated to. I don't know, maybe it comes down to expectations, but I found these boring, I wasn't looking for trivia.

Besides, there were a bunch of poems that felt completely random, e.g. "Today I saw a little worm", "She was poor but she was honest" about a rich man seducing a poor woman and abandoning her, resulting in her suicide.

There were also a bunch of childish (e.g. from Winnie the Pooh)/experimental/comical/nonsense poems. For example (in its entirety):

"My cat is dead
But I have decided not to make a big
tragedy out of it"

Like, ok, I don't connect with this kind of poetry. I suppose the editor was going for variety, or perhaps the anthology is meant for readers younger than me.

The poems I did like were actually seasonal and mostly classics (this is where my poetry taste leans), e.g. "The Darkling Thrush" by Thomas Hardy, "Spellbound" by Emily Bronte etc.

[Jo Berry ☀️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always want to love a poetry anthology and one with a winter theme sounds great, but like the other book I’ve read from this series it misses the mark. I expected poems about snow and ice, warm fires, food and feasts, the Aurora Borealis, winter walks, hot cocoa and good company. That is not what I got.

First, some of the poems are chosen for an ‘on this day in history’ reason, and this means we have poems about war and other things not related to winter. Then we have poems about various saints days that occur during the winter months. Not unsurprisingly, many of the poems from December and early January relate to Christmas and Christianity. But I feel an anthology about winter should aim to be much more secular and lean towards nature poetry.

But besides this, many of the poems are just not connected to winter. Only the occasional poem such as Wordsworth’s, ‘To a Snowdrop’ fit the theme. Many of the poems are very general, and also very well known, so there’s not much to discover here either. Annoyingly, some of the same poet’s works are arranged together - three poems by Langston Hughes are almost back-to-back - so it feels lazily organised.

Overall, the book is disappointing as it doesn’t do what it promises.

[Charlotte Coyne]

Made the executive decision that I do not suit these "read a poem each day" books and just read through the rest of the collection. Enjoyable if that's what you're into but I don't think I like to read books this way (she says as she currently reads Les Miserables this way 😂)

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was A wonderful read. This Came up to all expectations!

[brittany · Rating 1 out of 5]

i honestly don’t know how it was possible for me to hate pretty much every single “poem” in this stupid book but i did except for like 5 ??? i mean honestly this was a waste goodbye

[Sophie Woodhouse · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was nice. I especially enjoyed reading the poems aloud to my mum and reuben and sharing them together.
I don’t know a lot about poetry, I would say this is a good place to start. Because I didn’t know a lot it meant I was able to discover some gems here, unfortunately there were a lot of repeated poets where it might have been better to include others. I also enjoyed the structure where each poem was accompanied by a short paragraph about the meaning or its author for a bit of extra context, as someone who would’ve struggled understanding sometimes.
It was far too christian !! all throughout the 3 months and not just christmas, which is sad because winter is for everyone so it should be appealing to a wider audience.
also a lot of poems related to important historical days and context and i see where she was going with this but as they’re supposed to be poems for winter i think a better approach would’ve been more nature writing and less focus on real people/history.
overall a nice anthology, could be improved a lot with some more variety.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really unusual selection, mixing what you'd expect with the offbeat and unexpected. Starting with two poems about Rosa Parks and Maya Angelou's wonderful And Still I Rise had me hooked

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

A lovely idea, beautifully designed but not for me. I found the selection of poetry very narrow and conventional - a bit like a school reader. The editor clearly has some favourite poets and Thomas Hardy and Edgar Allen Poe appear seemingly every week. I both celebrate and love Christmas but even I found the amount of Christmas poems excessive. If you’re contemplating this selection and you don’t celebrate Christmas, just beware you’ll need to skip about 3 weeks.

[Erika · Rating 3 out of 5]

Den här har hållit mig sällskap mestadels om kvällarna (även om antologin egentligen erbjuder en dikt att läsa på morgonen och en på kvällen) de senaste månaderna. Ofta mysigt sällskap, och jag har fått upptäcka många för mig nya dikter. A Poem for Every Winter Day innehåller en blandning av klassiskt och modernt, men eftersom jag mestadels läser lyrik på svenska var överraskningsmomenten antagligen fler än planerat för mig.
Det här är också ett sätt att läsa dikter, men jag måste säga att jag känner mig lite lättad nu när de tre månaderna är över och min diktläsning får vara lite mer fri och inspirerad av stunden, lite mindre förhandsplanerad.

[bunny. ۶ৎ · Rating 1 out of 5]

i think i only liked 3 poems on this book and skimmed through the rest of them. why did i think this was going to be good i have no idea.

[Franzi · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were quite a few poems that I really enjoyed but for the most part this was targeted more at younger kids I think!

[🌶 peppersocks 🧦 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reflections and lessons learned:
Started reading this on the eve of a snowy day, the poems about the cold winter/weather perfectly setting the scene. As did the Lindt salted caramel chocolates scoffed throughout as the perfect tie in for the cover design - coincidence or driven by my subconscious need for matchy match?

A lot of familiar poems within this, but really enjoyed the dates tie in and look forward to buying a copy of this for the family in a few years time. Standout poems for me included:
Talking turkeys by Zephaniah
Help wanted by Tocher
A visit from st Nicholas (so that’s what it’s called!) by Moore
Dear true love by Fanthorpe
The Tempest by Shakespeare
Lines written by a bear of very little brain by Milne
The more it snows by Milne
Letter to NY by Bishop
The midnight skaters by McGough
To Science by Poe
Dream variation by Hughes
Human family by Angelou
To a haggis by Burns
First they came for the Jews by Niemoller
Yonder see the morning blink by Housman
Rain by Milligan
Days by Mitton
Spellbound by Bronte
A prayer for Lent by Harmer
The owl and the pussycat by Lear
A summing up by Mackay

New every morning by Coolidge is an excellent standout during pandemic when will and energy need a push:
Every day is a fresh beginning, Listen my soul to the glad refrain. And, spite of old sorrows And older sinning, Troubles forecasted And possible pain, Take heart with the day and begin again.

[Samantha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to love A Poem for Every Winter Day, especially because the concept itself is so appealing. A daily winter poem sounds like it should be peak cozy. And to be fair, there were some genuinely beautiful winter poems scattered throughout that I really enjoyed.

That said… this one just didn’t work for me overall.

There was way more war and religion woven into this collection than I expected, and it really pulled me out of the cozy winter mindset I was hoping for. It felt heavy in places where I wanted comfort, warmth, and reflection. Not devastatingly heavy, but heavy enough that it shifted the tone completely.

This is also my second seasonal poetry book from this collection, and just like the Fall one, I found myself wanting to read ahead just to get it finished instead of savoring it day by day. That’s usually a sign it’s not clicking. For a book designed to be slow, comforting, and intentional, it just wasn’t inviting me to linger.

Overall, while there are some lovely poems in here, the vibe wasn’t what I was hoping for. It didn’t feel cozy, it didn’t feel comforting, and it didn’t feel like a winter read I’d return to. Unfortunately, this one missed the mark for me.

[Kelly (kellyinbookland) · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s only over the last year I’ve started to really read poetry and I’ve loved reading this book every day. Although technically classed as the 2nd in the series, as autumn is first, I started with this one and will finish with Autumn.

You get 2 poems in the books, one for morning and one for night and although not all have been my cup of tea, some have been so lovely, thought provoking and wise.

What surprised me about this was I think I went in thinking it would be like all these little wintery, cutesy, cosy poems and although there were a few of these - it in fact had so much more depth. You went from topics like Napoleon to Pearl Harbour and had poems from Maya Angelou so it was a brilliant surprise which I loved.

I’m now onto spring and hope to enjoy it as much as I’ve enjoyed Winter.l and can’t wait to see what it brings and what I learn.

[Pamela Usai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved reading this over the three months of winter - although the poems don’t always explicitly reference winter, each one had the right vibe for its chosen day - I especially enjoyed the poems chosen for the end of December and Valentine’s Day. Looking forward to reading the spring anthology!

[Ulvi · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

I went into it expecting poems about snow and winter and Christmas, but there are poems about pretty much everything in there. Allie Esiri has done a big job though to look up what meaning different days have or what happened on a particular day and found poems to match these days.

[Elizabeth Tomkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

First time reading a ‘poem a day’ type of book. It’s a sweet concept but I was bad at doing the one a day I tended to just rid a chunk of them at a time. My favourite poem was the one about the Christmas Turkey!

[Jessica Atwater · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is beautiful and great for family reading. The poems lean on the simpler side, and not all have a seasonal flavor (many are chosen to coincide with an anniversary of a historic event), but it is a wide variety of good poetry which I enjoyed reading and looks lovely on my winter shelf.

[Saturday's Child · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not yet winter but some days feel like it is.

[Faith Hoover · Rating 5 out of 5]

Something about these books make wonderful devotionals without being a quote on quote decotional. It’s refreshing to read a poem every morning and this book is a wonderful collection.

[Laura Machado · Rating 5 out of 5]

Winter changes into stone the water of heaven and the heart of man...

Victor Hugo

[Kristen]

Reading a poem each night after dinner has become such a nice ritual, that I ordered A Poem for Every Spring Day. Spring has sprung!!! P

[Miriam James · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the routine of reading 2 poems a day and I like how many of them were related to the date it was on. As always with poetry collections, there were a lot I really liked and some I was less fussed about, but it was overall a good collection.

[Alanna McCann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love this book. It is the perfect book for when you want a cozy winters day ❄️⛄❄️

[Alexandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really wanted to be able to give a higher rating but I simply didn’t really enjoy it. It wasn’t what I expected even though I already knew from other reviews that it wasn’t all that wintery. Still I had hoped to read more about winter weather and special days. Of course I can imagine that filling a whole book with just that might be hard but this was a tiny bit of winter poems and mainly historical poems. Some made sense as there was an explanation that had to do with that specific date but a lot of the poems felt just random, to fill up the book. Also, I expected the book to start on December 21st in stead of covering whole months so I started with a big delay and could not properly catch up, but that’s just a personal pet peeve.

[Kris Dersch · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a little underwhelmed. There's some good poetry in here for sure but it didn't have the variety I would have liked, it was very heavy into the more "classic" poets. I think maybe I'm maturing as a poetry reader and didn't need the little intro to each poem but some people probably dig that and it's okay. It was an interesting experience. I did read them every day from when I started (read the leap year ones today) and some were more seasonal than others. It wasn't a bad book. Didn't blow me away. Pretty cover, which is nice if you're gonna look at it every day for three months.

[Elisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another lovely poetry collection which has kept me company over the last three months. I liked this collection even more so than the autumn collection, possibly because winter is my favourite season, so there were more nostalgic moments involved this time 😅 I'd recommend this book (and the other seasonal poetry collections) if you want to read a great variety of poems. The little introductions before each poem are great, especially if you're quite new to poetry, and add a little depth.

[Amanda Hunsberger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exactly what I was looking for in an introductory anthology of poetry for someone who's interested but not deeply invested in poetry. Nature poems especially move me. I will be collecting Esiri's other seasons of poetry.