To Winter
To Winter
Original Text
"Laconics," New London Telegraph (Dec. 9, 1912). Eugene O'Neill, Poems 1912-1944, ed. Donald Gallup (New Haven and New York: Ticknor and Fields, 1980): 40.
2 Away from here,
3And I shall greet thy passing breath
4 Without a tear.
5I do not love thy snow and sleet
6 Or icy flows;
7When I must jump or stamp to warm
8 My freezing toes.
9For why should I be happy or
10 E'en be merry,
11In weather only fitted for
13My eyes are red, my lips are blue
14 My ears frost bitt'n;
15Thy numbing kiss doth e'en extend
16 Thro' my mitten.
17I am cold, no matter how I warm
18 Or clothe me;
19O Winter, greater bards have sung
20 I loathe thee!
Notes
1] A quotation from Shakespeare's As You Like It, II.7:
Blow, blow, thou winter wind,Back to Line
Thou art not so unkind
As man's ingratitude.
Thy tooth is not so keen,
Because thou art not seen,
Although thy breath be rude.
Hey-ho, sing hey-ho, unto the green holly.
Most friendship is feigning, most loving, mere folly.
Then hey-ho, the holly;
This life is most jolly.
Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,
That dost not bite so nigh
As benefits forgot.
Though thou the waters warp,
Thy sting is not so sharp
As friend remembered not.
Hey-ho, sing hey-ho, unto the green holly.
Most friendship is feigning, most loving, mere folly.
Then hey-ho, the holly;
This life is most jolly.
12] On April 21, 1908, Dr. Frederick A Cook (1865-1940) and on April 6, 1909, Robert E. Peary (1856-1920) arrived at the North Pole. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1912
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
RPO 1999.
Rhyme