Winter Dusk

By Walter De La Mare 1873–1956 Walter De La Mare

Dark frost was in the air without,

The dusk was still with cold and gloom,

When less than even a shadow came

And stood within the room.

But of the three around the fire,

None turned a questioning head to look,

Still read a clear voice, on and on,

Still stooped they o’er their book.

The children watched their mother’s eyes

Moving on softly line to line;

It seemed to listen too—that shade,

Yet made no outward sign.

The fire-flames crooned a tiny song,

No cold wind stirred the wintry tree;

The children both in Faërie dreamed

Beside their mother’s knee.

And nearer yet that spirit drew

Above that heedless one, intent

Only on what the simple words

Of her small story meant.

No voiceless sorrow grieved her mind,

No memory her bosom stirred,

Nor dreamed she, as she read to two,

’Twas surely three who heard.

Yet when, the story done, she smiled

From face to face, serene and clear,

A love, half dread, sprang up, as she

Leaned close and drew them near.

Source: The Collected Poems of Walter de la Mare (1979)

Biography

Walter de la Mare is considered one of modern literature's chief exemplars of the romantic imagination. His complete works form a sustained treatment of romantic themes: dreams, death, rare states of mind and emotion, fantasy worlds of childhood, and the pursuit of the transcendent.

De la Mare's life was outwardly uneventful. As a youth he attended St. Paul's Cathedral School, and his formal education did not extend beyond . . .

Continue reading this biography