Poetry · Chapter
On a December Day explained
The speaker reflects on a December day that carries the sweetness and softness of April, finding beauty in the old year's decay and childhood traces.
What happens
The speaker reflects on a December day that carries the sweetness and softness of April, finding beauty in the old year's decay and childhood traces. Despite a desire for the old year to stay, the heart ultimately embraces freedom and change, blessing the strong breezes and purple woods, and choosing to follow the promise of spring despite the bitterness of memory and death.
Themes in this chapter
Longing for Immortality
The speaker's desire for the old year to stay and the tension between memory and the promise of new life reflect a longing for permanence and the past.
Nature as Divine Revelation
The December day is described with April's sweetness and softness, and the speaker blesses the breezes and woods, finding divine beauty in the natural world.
Characters to notice
- Unknown
The speaker who reflects on the December day, blessing the breezes and woods, and choosing to follow spring.
Key passages
“This is the sweetness of an April day; The softness of the spring is on the face Of the old year.”
The December day feels as sweet and soft as an April day, as if spring has touched the face of the old year.
The speaker finds spring-like qualities in the midst of winter.
“We do not like new friends, we love the old; With young, fierce, hopeful hearts we ill agree; But thou art patient, stagnant, calm, and cold, And not like that new year that is to be;”
We prefer the familiar old year over the new one, which is young, fierce, and hopeful; the old year is patient, calm, and cold, unlike the coming year.
The speaker expresses a preference for the known past over the uncertain future.
“And so to-day I blessed the breezes strong That swept the blue; I blessed the breezes free That rolled wet leaves like rivers shiningly; I blessed the purple woods I stood among.”
Today I gave thanks for the strong breezes that swept the blue sky, the free breezes that rolled wet leaves like shining rivers, and the purple woods around me.
The speaker finds joy and blessing in the natural elements of the December day.
“Nay, prophet-spring! but I will follow thee.”
No, spring that foretells the future, I will follow you.
Despite initial resistance, the speaker decides to embrace the promise of spring.