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In The Moon of Winter – Alcohol Ink on Yupo
I love music, but I’m not a big fan of poetry. While I have no wish to offend anyone, I find a lot of it depressing, although it is entirely possible that I might be basing my opinion on too much Sylvia Path, having had little exposure to more modern poetry. But then I feel the same way about most abstract art. If I have to spend too much time figuring out what something is supposed to mean, I lose interest. Too many high school English classes spent deconstructing metaphors ruined poetry for me for good. Not that there aren’t perfectly wonderful poems out there. While searching for a quote on winter in my new Bartlett’s Book of Quotations, I came across the poem, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, by Robert Frost. Robert Frost (1874-1963) was an American poet famous for his poems about rural New England, winner of four Pulitzer prizes and poet laureate of Vermont. This poem was published in 1923 when he was living on a farm and horses were still a big part of the countryside and it seems particularly appropriate for this wintry time of year. His other most famous poem is The Road Not Taken. Both are lovely poems but I will spare you the analysis, because that is the part of poetry I hated. A good poem should be able to explain itself.
Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Snowy Woods – 2018
It may be old-fashioned but I like the rhyming of the stanzas, that is an art form which you don’t see much anymore. I remember studying both poems in grade eight as poetry was part of the curriculum. Our teacher was a sixties hippy-child and being only nineteen herself, she wore mini skirts and maxi coats and let us listen to records in class, I Am A Rock (music link) and Sounds of Silence, the music of that generation being a form of poetry in itself. Although I am fairly certain Simon and Garfunkel were not part of the English curriculum, no one told.
I Am A Rock
A winter’s day
In a deep and dark December
I am alone
Gazing from my window
To the streets below
On a freshly fallen, silent shroud of snow
I am a rock
I am an island
I’ve built walls
A fortress, steep and mighty
That none may penetrate
I have no need of friendship
Friendship causes pain.
It’s laughter and it’s loving I disdain.
I am a rock
I am an island
Don’t talk of love
Well, I’ve heard the words before
It’s sleeping in my memory
And I won’t disturb the slumber
Of feelings that have died
If I never loved, I never would have cried
I am a rock
I am an island
I have my books
And my poetry to protect me
I am shielded in my armor
Hiding in my room
Safe within my womb
I touch no one and no one touches me
I am a rock
I am an island
And a rock feels no pain
And an island never cries
Simon and Garfunkel – I Am A Rock – Sounds of Silence copyright 1965
Our young teacher was correct, for what is a song but poetry set to music? I sometimes think that is what is lacking in modern music, often the lyrics are stupid, profane, repetitive or just plain bad. I think that is why I prefer those old classics from Sinatra & Company, the lyrics rhymed. Taylor Swift is a modern musician who uses rhyming effectively. While rap music may have rhyming lyrics it is sorely missing in melody, being able to string stanzas together does not a song make if there is no discernible tune. Check out this 1937 Irving Berlin tune, I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm, for a cheerful rhyming melody about winter. Click here for link to Ella.
But I can weather the storm!
What do I care how much it may storm?
For I’ve got my love to keep me warm
I can’t remember a worse December
Just watch those icicles form!
Oh, what do I care if icicles form?
I’ve got my love to keep me warm
Off with my overcoat, off with my glove
I need no overcoat, I’m burning with love!
My heart’s on fire, the flame grows higher
So I will weather the storm!
What do I care how much it may storm?
I’ve got my love to keep me warm.
Trying to keep the latent depression from crystalizing
Now the sun is lurking just behind the Scarborough horizonAnd you’re not even here
On the coldest night of the year.I took in Yonge Street at a glance
Heard the punkers playing
Watched the bikers dance
Everybody wishing they could go to the south of France
And you’re not even here
On the coldest night of the year
Hey look at me now
See the shape I’m in
It’s taken me so long to catch on to what’s going on
Inside this skin
When two lovers really love there’s nothing there
But this suddenly compact universe
Skin and breath and hair
I watched the all night TV show
In the all night bar
I drove all the people home
I was the one with the car
Now I’m sitting here alone and sleepless
And wondering where you are
And wishing you were here
On the coldest night of the year
Song For A Winter’s Night (Gordon Lightfoot – copyright 1967)
The lamp is burning low upon my table top
The snow is softly falling
The air is still in the silence of my room
I hear your voice softly calling
If I could only have you near
To breathe a sigh or two
I would be happy just to hold the hands I love
On this winter night with you
The smoke is rising in the shadows overhead
My glass is almost empty
I read again between the lines upon the page
The words of love you sent me
If I could know within my heart
That you were lonely too
I would be happy just to hold the hands I love
On this winter night with you
The fire is dying now, my lamp is growing dim
The shades of night are lifting
The morning light steals across my window pane
Where webs of snow are drifting
If I could only have you near
To breathe a sigh or two
I would be happy just to hold the hands I love
And to be once again with with you
To be once again with with you
Song For A Winter’s Night – Gordon Lightfoot – click here for music link
There was an article recently in the newspaper about a lecture series and one of the topics was how to write a hit pop song in thirty minutes. A local musician is going to solicit a poem from the audience at random and write a hit tune to that poem on the spot. Sounds intriguing….so I got out my old rhyming dictionary and set to work.
There you have it – my first song. Ok, it needs work…..but it’s clear all the good lyrics are already taken.
Postscript: While the lecture was interesting for a non-musician like me, I was disappointed in the song. Since no one was brave enough to volunteer their own creation, the musician selected a W.B. Yeats poem (the Lake Isle of Innisfree) from a book of poetry someone had brought and sang what sounded like a Gregorian chant. Lacking proper rhyming structure poor old Yeats did not translate well to melody, but perhaps it might have been a hit in 1888?
Postscript: My apologies if the spacing is off in the lyrics sections of this post. There must be something I am doing wrong with WordPress, as it looks fine in Draft form, but they seem to have a mind of their own and swear they Ain’t Misbehavin‘.
thehomeplaceweb 
Love this, you have shared some truly beautiful lyrics.
Thank you.
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Thanks, I was surprised how many lovely winter songs there were out there, aside from the usual Christmas stuff.
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I love this post 🙂 🙂 I was talking to my husband only a couple of weeks ago about Paul Simon masquerading as a folk star but when in reality he is a very talented poet (I am a huge fan). I love the dissecting part of poetry – if you argue well enough there is no wrong answer!
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Thanks, and I agree Paul Simon is a poet. There were so many lovely winter songs to chose from, other than the Christmas stuff. As for dissecting poetry – I love that phrase! – I was a science major so dissecting is a wonderfully descriptive adjective – I think I could learn to love poetry with more exposure.
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That was a lucky choice of word on my part then! I did a literature and history degree so I love long essays with no real right or wrong answer. I prefer poetry when you get to make up your own mind about the message. It’s far more fun to work it out for yourself than have other people’s opinions forced upon you. In most cases the author is no longer alive to reveal the truth in any case.
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Rhyming of words fascinate me. As a music lover of all generes, I find the music is what’s captures your feel, but the words capture you soul. Even rap, which I know has had a bad rap, lol, has its foothold in poetry When you truly listen to the words it can be quite beautiful. Thank Joan for the insight to a winters day.
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Thanks! I think what spoils rap for me is the profanity ie bad language….so I usually change the station….there might be some nice rap out there!
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Our similarities continue on Joan. I recently used that Paul Simon song with the “winter’s day” lyrics, as well as another post with this beautiful song by Gordon Lightfoot … I’ve used that song Gordon Lightfoot song twice in blog posts, as I find it just beautiful. That is one singer that I would love to see, though I think he is 80 now, and has been in poor health. His songs were so pure and beautiful, especially in the beginning – too bad his life has taken a few twists and turns over the years. I have used the Robert Frost poem as well: https://lindaschaubblog.net/2014/03/26/the-road-i-wish-i-was-taking/
As to the poetry, since I am here on your blog and not on my own – I must confess this to you. I have a few poets who have followed me and since all of them, from time to time, comment on my blog, I read their poetry and comment as well. Half of the time, I look and see what others have said because simply put “it is either over my head or I just don’t get it” … like you, I like poetry that rhymes. Something I can understand and get a mental picture of in my head. This free form poetry and Haiku – to me Haiku does not make sense. I am hard pressed many times to come up with comments. Another blogger I interact with takes macro photography shots and every post he writes this free form poetry or often rants and raves about the government – I usually just comment on the photo. Sundays he does a longish post with the theme of mindfulness and half the time I’m not sure what his topic is. I am not the only one. Tom has posts where many people just comment on the photos – occasionally he’ll chastise people for commenting only on the photos – I feel like I am in school sometimes. But he has about 4,500 followers – hmm. Here is an example: https://tom8pie.com/2019/02/22/free-will-2/
jAnd, the same as what you said – in class having to dissect sentences up as to what was what and in the many literature classes I took, by the time I analyzed a book to death, I no longer had any interest in it. I read “Madame Bovary” and “Sons & L*vers” (asterisk so the word doesn’t go to SPAM) so many times and analyzed the characters and what they did, it took any enjoyment out of reading. It took me a long time to get back into reading after completing school. I like Jim Croce too – his songs are gentle, and kind, and not loud like the music today. I had the radio on today – unbelievably the new station I discovered, has a static problem. The radio plays fine for all stations, both AM and FM, but this one. I have been working most of the day, since returning from walking, … working on tidying up my computer and archiving off old blog posts and photos – not done yet. We are getting a new computer system shortly with Windows 10 on it and I will not be using this computer as much – unless I can find a place to put it until Windows 7 is no longer supported by Microsoft (January 2020). So, I had to stop and do this today and likely tomorrow as well. I guess we are more traditional people – that is not a bad thing in the least.
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We really do think alike! I did see Gordon LIghtfoot once in concert in the 70’s in Toronto when I was a student. I can’t say I actually saw him as my cheap seat was obscured by a pillar but I heard him….and he mostly sounded drunk! He does look rough now from living a hard life, but his song lyrics are beautiful. I sometimes still listen to his music on my IPod. I checked out the poetry blog, but it’s way too deep for me, although I did like the photo on the About page. He’s probably a very intelligent person with an advanced degree in something. I do have one poet who follows me who occasionally posts a poem with her garden blogs….and I like her poetry, because it creates a visual image and makes sense to me. So I’ve often thought I might like poetry if I was more exposed to it. I had a teacher friend who got a word set for Xmas, where she would throw blocks with words on them (kind of like throwing dice) onto the table and then assemble them into a poem, and that is what a lot of it looks like to me. Random and senseless. I will check out your Robert Frosst blog as I do love that poem. How do you archive old posts and photos? Is that within the WordPress program – I have about 80 posts now and lots of photos, but if WP ever lost themI have NO backups as I mostly write in Draft form inside the WP program. Or are you archiving on Windows? What is the new radio station you are listening too? I have given up listening to the radio in the car as I can’t seem to find any good music, and my IPod doesn’t work in the car anymore – my car is 13 years old this year – a Honda Civic but they last forever and it doesn’t have many miles on it, esp now that I am no longer working. I can’t see replacing it just to get a newer model when I don’t drive it much now. If the world had more traditional people in it, it wouldn’t be such a weird place. I stopped following one blogger who was angry and ranting so much about his legal fight with a family member that I just deleted him. I could sympathize and felt sorry for him and maybe it was cathartic for him to vent, but I just couldn’t read it anymore and couldn’t understand how he had so many followers.
I think people who have thousands of followers must be flogging their blogs on Facebook and Twitter and PinInterest and other sites. I don’t think I would want to have to keep up with all those sites, as I find it difficult to keep up here some days. Have a good Sunday Linda….I hope you got a walk in!
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Love those lyrics!
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Then we must be of similar age! I can hardly stand to listen to song lyrics today…..
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I agree!
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