Winter-Time Lyrics
Sixteen lines on a winter day: a sun that hardly gets up, a game of exploring the cold lands by the fire, and a walk out into a world frosted like a wedding cake. Robert Louis Stevenson wrote it for A Child's Garden of Verses.
Winter-Time
Late lies the wintry sun a-bed,
A frosty, fiery sleepy-head;
Blinks but an hour or two; and then,
A blood-red orange, sets again.
Close by the jolly fire I sit
To warm my frozen bones a bit;
Or with a reindeer-sled, explore
The colder countries round the door.
When to go out, my nurse doth wrap
Me in my comforter and cap;
The cold wind burns my face, and blows
Its frosty pepper up my nose.
Black are my steps on silver sod;
Thick blows my frosty breath abroad;
And tree and house, and hill and lake,
Are frosted like a wedding cake.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/winter-time/
- Type
- Poems for Children
- Written by
- Robert Louis Stevenson
- Tune
- Read it slowly and shivering at first, then brighter for the frosted world at the end
- Best for ages
- 4 to 9 years
What Does Winter-Time Mean?
The poem follows one winter day from the sunrise on. In the first verse the sun is a sleepyhead who lies late in bed, shows himself for an hour or two, and sets again like "a blood-red orange". That is a picture of the short winter day, when sunset is red and comes early.
Close by the fire, the child plays at exploring: a "reindeer-sled" takes them to "the colder countries round the door", which is a game of pretending the chilly places by the door are polar lands. When it is time to go out, the nurse wraps the child in a comforter (a long woollen scarf) and a cap. The wind "burns" the face and sends a "frosty pepper" up the nose, which means the cold air stings.
The last verse gives the best picture. The footprints are black on the "silver sod" (frosted turf), the breath hangs thick in the air, and the trees, houses, hills and lake are all "frosted like a wedding cake", white and glittering like icing.
History and Origin
Robert Louis Stevenson's book of children's poems came out in 1885. He grew up in Edinburgh and died in 1894 in Samoa, in the warm Pacific, a long way from the frosty mornings of his childhood. The poems in the book are written from a child's point of view, and this one remembers frost and firelight. The page gives four of the poem's five verses.
Learning Activities
- Reindeer-sled explorers: sit on a blanket by a window or heater and take a pretend sleigh trip to the 'colder countries' while the grown-up reads.
- Dress up for winter: put on a hat, scarf and mittens in order, and say the third verse as each item goes on.
- Breath clouds: on a cold day, go outside and breathe out slowly, then say the 'thick blows my frosty breath' line.
- Frosting picture: paint a landscape on dark paper, then dab white paint on everything as the frost does.