Publisher's Synopsis
Appearing at what can be the bleakest time of year, snowdrops hold a special place in our hearts. There is something valiant in the way they emerge from the cold earth to stand in shivering clusters when we are busy keeping warm indoors.
Perhaps it’s this quality of apparent resilience that appeals to us – and makes snowdrops so popular with poets. This delightfully varied selection captures their many meanings – from Tennyson’s “February fair-maid” to Jim Stewart’s image of snowdrops as “the last lights out”.
For Wordsworth it is humility that characterises them most of all:
“Lone Flower, hemmed in with snows and white as they
But hardier far, once more I see thee bend
Thy forehead, as if fearful to offend…”
from ‘To a Snowdrop’ by William Wordsworth
These are poems to be enjoyed at any time of year, offering a welcome reminder that even in the depths of winter, spring is quietly at work preparing its many joys.
Poems by Diana Hendry, Rosie Storey Hilton, Zaffar Kunial, Paula Meehan, Sarah Salway, AE Stallings, Jim Stewart, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Mary Webb and William Wordsworth.
