A Winter Song by Herbert Trench
Herbert Trench's "A Winter Song," dedicated to Alice Meynell, follows a speaker walking alone through frost-stiff grass and shrouded trees, thinking of a beloved face. A black elm in a bright space brings her back to him, her shade on the green turned white with rapture.
By Herbert Trench · Genre: Lyric poetry, Love poetry, Winter poetry · 266 words
First lines
_To Alice Meynell_
Lady, through grasses stiff with rime / And wraith-hung trees I wander / Where the red sun at pitch of prime / Half of his might must squander; / Narrow the track / As I look back / On traces green behind me, -- / I go alone / To think upon / A face, where none / Shall find me.
Birds peal; but each grim grove its shroud / Retains, as to betoken / Though the young lawn should wave off cloud / These would have Night unbroken, -- / Desire no plash / Of the Lake awash -- / No gold but gold that's glinted / In still device / From the breast of ice / Whose summer cries / Have stinted.
Similar titles
- Winter Night Song by Sara Teasdale
- The Exile by Thomas Gordon Hake
- East Wind by Francis Neilson
- My Heart When First The Blackbird Sings by Robert Louis Stevenson
- On Stinsford Hill At Midnight by Thomas Hardy
- As Twere To Night by Thomas Hardy
Genres
- Lyric poetry — The poem is a brief, first-person, song-like lyric that expresses one speaker's inner longing, the defining mode of the form.
- Love poetry — It is addressed to a Lady whose remembered face and presence drive the poem, and the closing stanza turns to rapture at her presence.
- Winter poetry — The title and imagery of frost, rime, grim groves, ice, shroud and Night place the work within the seasonal winter tradition.
- Nature poetry — Landscape shapes the mood throughout: grasses, wraith-hung trees, the black Elm, the frozen Lake and the sun carry the emotional meaning.
Tags
winter poem · frost · solitude · walking alone · longing · love poem · beloved · memory · winter landscape · black elm · shrouded trees · nature imagery
What this Textopian page supports
A Winter Song is listed on Textopian as a poem by Herbert Trench, dated Date unknown.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Herbert Trench
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Lyric poetry, Love poetry, Winter poetry, Nature poetry, Elegiac poetry
- Length: 266 words
- Structure: 1 section, 4 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
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- Work identity for A Winter Song by Herbert Trench
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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