Mid-Winter by Marie Van Vorst (1909)
A midwinter afternoon of cold grey sky, storm-bent leafless trees, and a white world is transformed into a vision of summer when the speaker thinks of being united with a beloved. Buds open for orchard bees, roses perfume the air, birds rise into blue sky, and fields ripen. The beloved’s presence creates an inward warmth that releases love and makes summer seem to flow through the speaker’s veins.
By Marie Van Vorst · First published 1909 · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Love Poetry, Nature Poetry · 155 words
First lines
On this midwinter afternoon, / When all the sky is cold and grey, / What power can change the white world's rune / To a midsummer holiday?
The branches of the leafless trees, / Bent in the pathway of the storm, / Give up their buds to orchard bees, / The atmosphere is soft and warm.
And from a thousand rose-hearts, too, / The air delicious fragrance yields; / The birds fly up against the blue, / The Summer ripens on the fields.
Thou art with me! This happy thought, / That all the birds of love unchains / To the white world, has Summer brought / Through warmth of Summer in my veins.
What this Textopian page supports
Mid-Winter is listed on Textopian as a poem by Marie Van Vorst, dated 1909 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Marie Van Vorst
- Date: 1909 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Lyric Poetry, Love Poetry, Nature Poetry, Romantic Poetry, Seasonal Poetry
- Length: 155 words
- Structure: 1 section, 4 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for Mid-Winter by Marie Van Vorst
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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Similar titles
- To Morrow by Marie Van Vorst
- The Reward by Marie Van Vorst
- The Boon by Marie Van Vorst
- Red Roses by Marie Van Vorst
- The Years End by Marie Van Vorst
- Winter by Marie Van Vorst
Genres
- Lyric Poetry — The work is a short, musical first-person poem focused on expressing a concentrated emotional response through vivid imagery and rhythmic verse.
- Love Poetry — Its central transformation from winter into inner summer is caused by the beloved's presence, culminating in the declaration that love brings warmth and release.
- Nature Poetry — The poem relies heavily on seasonal and pastoral images: cold sky, leafless trees, buds, orchard bees, roses, birds, and ripening fields.
- Romantic Poetry — It treats personal feeling as a force capable of transfiguring the natural world, using idealized love, sensory richness, and a contrast between external winter and internal joy.
Tags
fiction · novel · romance · drama · social life · marriage · love · family relationships · wealth · class differences · society · American literature