Winter | The frost is here

The frost is here

Language: English

The frost is here,
And fuel is dear,
And woods are sear,
And fires burn clear,
And frost is here,
And has bitten the heel of the going year.
	
Bite, frost, bite!
You roll up away from the light.
The blue wood louse,
And the plump dormouse,
And the bees are still'd,
And the flies are kill'd,
And you bite far far into the heart of the house,
But not into mine,
And you bite far far into the heart of the house,
But not into mine.

Bite, frost, bite!
The woods are all the searer,
The fuel is all the dearer,
The fires are all the clearer,
My spring is all the nearer,
You have bitten into the heart of the earth,
But not into mine,
You have bitten into the heart of the earth,
But not, not into mine.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Alfred Tennyson, Lord (1809 - 1892), no title, appears in The Windows, or The Loves of the Wrens, no. 4, first published 1867, rev. 1870 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Arthur Henry Egerton (1891? - 1957), "The frost is here", published 1954 [ unison chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Robin Humphrey Milford (1903 - 1959), "Winter", published 1930 [ unison chorus and piano ], from Rain, Wind, and Sunshine [sung text not yet checked]
by Arthur Sullivan, Sir (1842 - 1900), "Winter", published 1871 [ voice and piano ], from The Window, or The Songs of the Wrens, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
by Sidney Thomson , "Winter", published 1893 [ voice and piano ], from The Window or the Song of the Wrens [sung text not yet checked]
by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958), "Winter", 1896 [ voice and piano ], from Two Vocal Valses from The Window, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-03-21
Line count: 25
Word count: 141