Whittier writes of a snowstorm so great that his childhood home was banked up for days. It's a simple reminiscence, from a man with a pure heart, if ever there was one.
Yes, echoing Barbara above who quoted “of life and love, to still live on!” If I may and if anyone might....read my childhood memory of being snowbound:
There was a blizzard in March 1958 I believe it was. Three feet of snow had fallen. I was about 6, my older sister 10 and we had twin baby sisters, about 9 months old. There we are in rural southeastern Pennsylvania. Electricity and phones out. No heat so we kept a fire going in the fireplace. One morning, just around daybreak, my parents woke us up to say there was a fire in the wall behind the chimney.
My parents spoke softly to us, like there was a tremendous secret about the morning and the snow outside and the fire.
Our mother told my sister to put on her boots and her coat ( yes, over your pajamas) and go across the road to let the neighbors know that we had a fire. My sister took off, so brave I thought, as I watched her from the window. She slipped and slid on the icy snow and road but she delivered the message!
My father was trying to put the fire out himself. My mother must have been bundling up the twins.
Then we all got out of the house and stood with the neighbors on their porch as we watched my father get into our car, a green 1957 Chevy I think, and drive into town on those icy roads to get the fire department.
It was our own little world as we watched from the porch. “Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone.” Now it was my father I found to be so brave. What a wonderful time we’re having I thought.
We watched from the window until, sure enough, my father came back with the fire trucks, our green Chevy leading the way!
This is one of the few times growing up that our family was in perfect harmony. My parents, we children, all together, they leading and we following. There was no yelling, no crying, no fear, no complaining. Just us, Snowbound, just as Whittier writes.
Thank you for sharing that story .. and your story does show how it SHOULD be but isn't always in our times. I recall being snowbound as a child, but (thanking the Lord) not with a fire in the chimney!
I'll tell Tony (and our puppy, Molly, who "contributed" to the recording) that you enjoyed the poem. Your comment will cheer him after he heard from a naysayer just now.
Huh. Too much my foot! I deliberately saved it for Sunday leisure after church. I wasn’t going to add a comment until I read what the naysayer said. But the one word comment I had planned to keep for myself I will share now. RICH.
Well, we are glad you liked it the poem. It's funny these days to see the time estimate added to audio posts, though I know it can be helpful to know that something is more than a few minutes long. But there is in fact a difference between reading and listening to poetry. After awhile, you get better at "hearing" it as you read, as though spoken by someone. But alas!!!
Thank you for listening Judith. It was a long poem, but who can beat Whittier for sheer good-heartedness and gratitude? As Amy pointed out in her own comment above, sometimes it is the difficulties in life which bring us together and at our best as human beings.
A beautiful long poem for a snowy day! Full of memory and beauty. I'm in awe at how smoothly you read, as always. My voice would be a ruin if I had to read that long a poem aloud in one sitting!
Ah, David. The post was beset by snags of every imaginable sort! Tony had to start the recording three times -- and then Molly the pup decided to add her two cents' worth of commentary! We are glad you were listening! Tony hopes to had a chat with you soon.
A little interlude from Man's Best Friend is never a bad thing!
I will definitely have to give Dr. E a ring very soon! I feel like winter should be the quietest season, and yet things keep coming up! I've been knocked out with a rough cold this week, but I'm finally getting back to normal, so hopefully I can eke out a free hour sometime soon!
Sorry about the bad cold! We are benefiting from having Tony teaching online, away from the campus bugs that he used to bring home to all of us. He's supposed to be working fewer hours now, but somehow we stay perpetually booked. I'm sure you two can find a break for a call sometime in there!
We love having you "on the other end of the line" to enjoy this great poetry with us, Elizabeth. Hope you are staying safe and not having too many power outages this winter -- or being TOO snowbound!
I thought these lines of the poem most poignant ...Not a day goes by that I don't miss family members who are now on the other side of the great divide.
This topic has come up again and again this week, hasn't it? It is part of life to experience the passing away of people we love. But oh, for that day when we meet again! Whittier knew that hope, but he also understood the sweetness of memory and the longing for those gone from us.
Oh, sorry for the doggie accompaniment! We have a new puppy, and she is running us ragged. Tony had trouble with the recording last night, late when he finally got time to do it, and this was the third "take" of a long poem. We had to send it as it was or not at all. AND very late I discovered a glitch in the post settings too, and that was hard to work around. So I am glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks Amy. The original post was set for 1100 subscribers, and only about 100 received it. So I had to resend it as a regular email, rather than by the Poetry Aloud Substack setting. We have been having this problem for too long, and getting real support from Substack is difficult to impossible. I just want our subscribers to get what they have paid for!
I just loved this poem. Thank you for sharing it with us! This is the first time I have ever heard of it.
I don't believe I've ever read a longer poem! Mr. Whittier surely makes us see all he describes.
Nancy
Well, Nancy, we don't usually do them this long at W&S, but the poem suited the week here! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Yes, echoing Barbara above who quoted “of life and love, to still live on!” If I may and if anyone might....read my childhood memory of being snowbound:
There was a blizzard in March 1958 I believe it was. Three feet of snow had fallen. I was about 6, my older sister 10 and we had twin baby sisters, about 9 months old. There we are in rural southeastern Pennsylvania. Electricity and phones out. No heat so we kept a fire going in the fireplace. One morning, just around daybreak, my parents woke us up to say there was a fire in the wall behind the chimney.
My parents spoke softly to us, like there was a tremendous secret about the morning and the snow outside and the fire.
Our mother told my sister to put on her boots and her coat ( yes, over your pajamas) and go across the road to let the neighbors know that we had a fire. My sister took off, so brave I thought, as I watched her from the window. She slipped and slid on the icy snow and road but she delivered the message!
My father was trying to put the fire out himself. My mother must have been bundling up the twins.
Then we all got out of the house and stood with the neighbors on their porch as we watched my father get into our car, a green 1957 Chevy I think, and drive into town on those icy roads to get the fire department.
It was our own little world as we watched from the porch. “Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone.” Now it was my father I found to be so brave. What a wonderful time we’re having I thought.
We watched from the window until, sure enough, my father came back with the fire trucks, our green Chevy leading the way!
This is one of the few times growing up that our family was in perfect harmony. My parents, we children, all together, they leading and we following. There was no yelling, no crying, no fear, no complaining. Just us, Snowbound, just as Whittier writes.
Thank you for sharing that story .. and your story does show how it SHOULD be but isn't always in our times. I recall being snowbound as a child, but (thanking the Lord) not with a fire in the chimney!
Sorry to go on. Poem and reading were powerful.
I'll tell Tony (and our puppy, Molly, who "contributed" to the recording) that you enjoyed the poem. Your comment will cheer him after he heard from a naysayer just now.
A naysayer? On what possible account. Nonsense.
Too much content, believe it or not.
Huh. Too much my foot! I deliberately saved it for Sunday leisure after church. I wasn’t going to add a comment until I read what the naysayer said. But the one word comment I had planned to keep for myself I will share now. RICH.
Well, we are glad you liked it the poem. It's funny these days to see the time estimate added to audio posts, though I know it can be helpful to know that something is more than a few minutes long. But there is in fact a difference between reading and listening to poetry. After awhile, you get better at "hearing" it as you read, as though spoken by someone. But alas!!!
Wonderful, magical, so thought-provoking! Thank you!
Thank you for listening Judith. It was a long poem, but who can beat Whittier for sheer good-heartedness and gratitude? As Amy pointed out in her own comment above, sometimes it is the difficulties in life which bring us together and at our best as human beings.
A beautiful long poem for a snowy day! Full of memory and beauty. I'm in awe at how smoothly you read, as always. My voice would be a ruin if I had to read that long a poem aloud in one sitting!
The puppy cameo was a splendid treat!
Ah, David. The post was beset by snags of every imaginable sort! Tony had to start the recording three times -- and then Molly the pup decided to add her two cents' worth of commentary! We are glad you were listening! Tony hopes to had a chat with you soon.
A little interlude from Man's Best Friend is never a bad thing!
I will definitely have to give Dr. E a ring very soon! I feel like winter should be the quietest season, and yet things keep coming up! I've been knocked out with a rough cold this week, but I'm finally getting back to normal, so hopefully I can eke out a free hour sometime soon!
Sorry about the bad cold! We are benefiting from having Tony teaching online, away from the campus bugs that he used to bring home to all of us. He's supposed to be working fewer hours now, but somehow we stay perpetually booked. I'm sure you two can find a break for a call sometime in there!
Absent Cape Breton's stormy curse
Gives chance to hear poetic verse
Thanks for this excellent read!
We love having you "on the other end of the line" to enjoy this great poetry with us, Elizabeth. Hope you are staying safe and not having too many power outages this winter -- or being TOO snowbound!
I thought these lines of the poem most poignant ...Not a day goes by that I don't miss family members who are now on the other side of the great divide.
O Time and Change!—with hair as gray
As was my sire’s that winter day,
How strange it seems, with so much gone
Of life and love, to still live on!
Ah, brother! only I and thou
Are left of all that circle now,—
This topic has come up again and again this week, hasn't it? It is part of life to experience the passing away of people we love. But oh, for that day when we meet again! Whittier knew that hope, but he also understood the sweetness of memory and the longing for those gone from us.
Oh, sorry for the doggie accompaniment! We have a new puppy, and she is running us ragged. Tony had trouble with the recording last night, late when he finally got time to do it, and this was the third "take" of a long poem. We had to send it as it was or not at all. AND very late I discovered a glitch in the post settings too, and that was hard to work around. So I am glad you enjoyed it!
Give Molly a hug for me!!
I will, indeed. She is a Velcro dog, very people friendly, loves everyone. BUT she is a baby! Only 13 weeks old, and a handful!
Re the post settings, I was going to comment that on what I got, there were two versions each of intro and poem. Okay. Guess you know.
Thanks Amy. The original post was set for 1100 subscribers, and only about 100 received it. So I had to resend it as a regular email, rather than by the Poetry Aloud Substack setting. We have been having this problem for too long, and getting real support from Substack is difficult to impossible. I just want our subscribers to get what they have paid for!