-
Where Mind of Winter Comes From
The Snow Man by Wallace Stevens One must have a mind of winter To regard the frost and the boughs Of the pine-trees crusted with snow; And have been cold a long time To behold the junipers shagged with ice, The spruces rough in the distant glitter Of the January sun; and not to think…
-
This makes less sense
Perhaps Auden’s last line points us to something about the type of cynicism that these poems exhibit. The view that the stars don’t, in fact, give a damn is born from an attempt to remove all personifiable qualities that would typically be attributed to stars (caring, watching-over, keenness in Frost’s words). What we’re left with…
-
This makes little sense
If one can abide stars that are simply points of light, inert things that don’t watch us and are no kind of companion—and certainly this is what we all believe nowadays—one can learn to adjust to an empty sky. An empty sky is awfully beautiful, too, and, moreover, reminds us that we are the more…
-
More Frosty Stars
Fireflies in The Garden by Robert Lee Frost Here come real stars to fill the upper skies, And here on earth come emulating flies, That though they never equal stars in size, (And they were never really stars at heart) Achieve at times a very star-like start. Only, of course, they can’t sustain the part.…
-
Linked Up
The Atlantic Monthly has a good poetry page that you can access here. It has some new poems and articles as well as a searchable archive. We should compile a list of useful poetry links… I’ll keep posting ones as I find them..
-
A Last Word
A Last Word by Ernest Dowson Let us go hence: the night is now at hand ; The day is overworn, the birds all flown ; And we have reaped the crops the gods have sown ; Despair and death ; deep darkness o’er the land, Broods like an owl: we cannot understand Laughter or…
-
Some Blog Suggestions
A few thoughts on making this blog a little prettier. I like the general format to begin with, so most of this is just detail: *Title Font color should match the font color in the banner (the “Mind of Winter” color) *If its possible to highlight the titles of posts it might break up the…
-
Dark Skies are OK too
RE: #1) I’m not sure I fell similarly about the dark sky. I tend to agree more with the idea that one could learn to love an empty sky as much as the stars, not out of a residual effect of the stars but due to a newfound appreciation of total dark. One consideration: as…
-
On being the more loving one
A couple of quick comments regarding The More Loving One before I go to bed: Brian, I think, was right to insist that ‘sublime’ is not a noun in this poem. I was perhaps overly enthusiastic about my misreading. Had he felt “the total dark sublime” I would have maintained my case, but the word…
-
hello.
hello. These poetic evenings seem to coincide with my trips out of town. I won’t be around tonight, either. Shoot. anne