January Cold Desolate Lyrics
A poem that walks through the whole year, naming every month from January to December with a few words of weather for each: cold January, dripping February, windy March, changeable April, sunny June, scorched July, rough October. Twenty lines by Christina Rossetti.
January Cold Desolate
January cold desolate;
February all dripping wet;
March wind ranges;
April changes;
Birds sing in tune
To flowers of May,
And sunny June
Brings longest day;
In scorched July
The storm-clouds fly
Lightning-torn;
August bears corn,
September fruit;
In rough October
Earth must disrobe her;
Stars fall and shoot
In keen November;
And night is long
And cold is strong
In bleak December.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/january-cold-desolate/
- Type
- Poems for Children
- Written by
- Christina Rossetti
- Tune
- Even and quick, one month after another, slowing for the long nights of December
- Best for ages
- 4 to 9 years
What Does January Cold Desolate Mean?
Each month gets a short description, and a child can learn the poem as a calendar. January is cold desolate: bare and empty. February is "all dripping wet" and March "wind ranges", which means the wind roams about. April "changes", as sun and showers take turns. May and June bring flowers, birdsong and "the longest day" (in the northern half of the world the longest day falls in June). July is scorched, burnt dry by heat, and the storm clouds "fly lightning-torn". August "bears corn" and September fruit.
Autumn and winter close the poem. In rough October "Earth must disrobe her": the trees drop their leaves, as the earth takes off its leafy cover. In keen November (sharp, biting) "stars fall and shoot", which means shooting stars, the streaks of light that can be seen in a dark sky. Then comes the long, cold night of "bleak December".
The poem names all twelve months, in order, and it has a pattern: the rhymes join pairs of lines (ranges and changes, tune and June, fly and July, corn and torn, fruit and shoot).
History and Origin
Rossetti was born in London in 1830 and died in 1894. The poem comes from Sing-Song.
Poems that run through the months of the year are a common sort of verse for children, because they help a child remember the order of the calendar. This one is unusual in how uneven it is: some months get one short line, like "April changes", while July and December get three lines each.
Learning Activities
- Month by month: read it with a calendar in front of you and point to each month as it comes.
- Weather faces: draw one picture per month, for example a drip for February or a sun for June, and put them in order.
- Your own month: ask each child to find their birthday month in the poem and say what weather it has in their country.
- Long and short: count how many lines each month gets, and find the two months that get the most.