There Is a Beauty

Henrietta ClarkeContemplative

There is a beauty only Winter brings. The hills of early morning, pure and white; Silver-peaked roofs and fences topped with snow, A new gay canvas painted overnight.

A high church spire becomes a magic tower When viewed in sunshine, jewel-bedecked and bright. While from low eaves clear icicles hang down With all the beauty of a stalactite.

The branches of the trees are trimmed with tulle; The brook is now a shining moire band Fit to be worn on any bridal gown, With swirls and patterns never made by hand.

There is a beauty only Winter brings . . . Across the snow the pale mauve shadows pass, And the blue crystal of the oval creek Becomes a large encrusted looking-glass.

The sky is tinged with rose; birds as they fly Are etched in inky black against the sky.

Henrietta Clarke

SourceLicence:Public domain (US, unrenewed)

Mood:: Contemplative
Topics:: winter, sky, snow, creek

What is this poem about?

Summary

Henrietta Clarke looks at a snowy landscape and sees something made rather than simply fallen. The speaker opens with a claim, "There is a beauty only Winter brings," and spends the rest of the poem proving it. Snow-covered hills and fences look like "a new gay canvas painted overnight," a church spire turns into a jeweled "magic tower," and icicles shine like stalactites.

What stands out is how often the images borrow from fabric and fashion. Branches are "trimmed with tulle," and the frozen brook becomes a "shining moire band" fit for a bridal gown, its patterns "never made by hand." Nature, the speaker implies, outdoes human craft.

The mood is delighted and quietly reverent. The speaker isn't complaining about the cold; she's admiring. The repeated opening line, returning in the fourth stanza, works like a refrain of wonder. The closing couplet shifts the colors once more, rose in the sky and black birds etched against it, ending on a sharp, still picture.

Read alsoPoem analysis →

Learn by heart: tap a gap

There is a beauty only Winter .

The hills of early , pure and white;

Open the trainer

Keep going on the web or in the app.

There Is a Beauty

What is this poem about?

Learn by heart: tap a gap

Describe a feeling — we’ll find a poem

Learn Poems app

What is this poem about?

Twice had Summer her fair Verdure

Rote

What is this poem about?

Learn by heart: tap a gap

Describe a feeling — we’ll find a poem

More by Henrietta Clarke

In the same mood

On the same theme

What is this poem about?

More by Henrietta Clarke

In the same mood

On the same theme