Woods in Winter by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“Chill airs and wintry winds! My ear has grown familiar with your song.”

This year, we were inspired to create our Winter in the Woods holiday print in celebration of wintery woodlands. I drew inspiration from the beautiful Ashdown Forest, which is located in the south of England, and the poem Woods in Winter by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 – 1882).

In his poem, Longfellow perfectly captures impressions from a chilly walk through a winter forest. And while he reflects the exuberance and splendor of summer, he also develops an appreciation for song of the wintry winds and the pale landscape.

In Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem Woods in Winter the narrator reflects reflects the exuberance and splendor of summer, he also develops an appreciation for song of the wintry winds and pale landscape. You download a printable version of this poem at our blog. #poem #printable #wallart #freebie | countryhillcottage.com

Winter in the Woods by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

When winter winds are piercing chill,
And through the hawthorn blows the gale,
With solemn feet I tread the hill,
That overbrows the lonely vale.

O’er the bare upland, and away
Through the long reach of desert woods,
The embracing sunbeams chastely play,
And gladden these deep solitudes.

Where, twisted round the barren oak,
The summer vine in beauty clung,
And summer winds the stillness broke,
The crystal icicle is hung.

Where, from their frozen urns, mute springs
Pour out the river’s gradual tide,
Shrilly the skater’s iron rings,
And voices fill the woodland side.

Alas! how changed from the fair scene,
When birds sang out their mellow lay,
And winds were soft, and woods were green,
And the song ceased not with the day!

But still wild music is abroad,
Pale, desert woods! within your crowd;
And gathering winds, in hoarse accord,
Amid the vocal reeds pipe loud.

Chill airs and wintry winds! my ear
Has grown familiar with your song;
I hear it in the opening year,
I listen, and it cheers me long.