Featured Poem: Festive Selection Part 2

It's Boxing Day and by now we're all probably stuffed with turkey, mince pies, pigs-in-blankets, turkey, Christmas pudding and more turkey. Surely there's not enough room for anything from a selection box; well, at least not of the edible kind. Instead why not savour something from our second seasonal poetry selection: it has everything from snow scenes, strange  and sensational pantomimes to several songs for the New Year. There's nothing much on telly anyway so why not have a read instead?

Woods in Winter – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Many of us might have indulged a little too much to feel like moving from the comfort of the sofa but a bracing walk in a winter wonderland has its upsides too – even with ‘chill airs and wintry winds’ there’s still goodness to be found…

The Sleigh-Bells – Susanna Moodie

It’s a little late for Santa’s sleigh now but this conjures up gorgeous images of dashing through the snow (if there is any) – surely it’s the only way to ride…

Snow – Archibald Lampman

The white stuff that falls from the sky divides opinion – some rejoice to see it, others pray it will go away swiftly. Whether or not it’s been a white Christmas, this poem provides a very pretty poetic picture.

Behold, as Goblins Dark of Mien – Robert Louis Stevenson

Pantomimes are part and parcel of a traditional British Christmas; this one is slightly dark in tone but fear not – its goblins are tempered with Fairy Queens…

The Sorcerer’s Song – W.S. Gilbert

What is the Christmas season if not filled with magic? And there’s tons of it here…

The Palace of Humbug – Lewis Carroll

If you’re rather tired of endless Christmas parties then you may be amused to read this poem. Humbug isn’t just the domain of Ebenezer Scrooge…

One Year Ago – jots what? – Emily Dickinson

Twelve months seems like a lot but really, it goes really quite rapidly indeed – as Emily Dickinson observes.

New Year’s Chimes – Francis Thompson

This poem is a veritable feast for the senses with all its superb sights and singing sounds. There’s no better way to close the year and see in the new one with a song – or indeed “with a million songs as song of one.”

A Song for New Year's Eve – William Cullen Bryant

Keeping on the musical theme – a merry way to welcome the New Year. “The good old year is with the past; Oh be the new as kind!”

Song of Hope – Thomas Hardy

All of us go into a New Year with renewed hope for the future. This poem by Hardy sings out with hope for a tomorrow with a hope that is gleaming “dimmed by no gray”. Surely the best outlook to approach 2012.