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No. 169
To Winter
William Blake
O Winter! bar thine adamantine doors:

The north is thine; there hast thou built thy dark

Deep-founded habitation. Shake not thy roofs

Nor bend thy pillars with thine iron car.

He hears me not, but o’er the yawning deep

Rides heavy; his storms are unchain’d, sheathed

In ribbed steel; I dare not lift mine eyes;

For he hath rear’d his scepter o’er the world.

Lo! now the direful monster, whose skin clings

To his strong bones, strides o’er the groaning rocks:

He withers all in silence, and in his hand

Unclothes the earth, and freezes up frail life.

He takes his seat upon the cliffs, the mariner

Cries in vain. Poor little wretch! that deal’st

With storms; till heaven smiles, and the monster

Is driven yelling to his caves beneath Mount Hecla.
— William Blake

About the Poem

Winter here is a steel-clad monarch whose storms stride across cliffs and freeze every living thing. The speaker begs the season to bar its doors, yet admits he cannot even lift his eyes against such force. The poem offers no shelter, only the knowledge that Winter will eventually retreat to Mount Hecla—a reminder that endurance, not conquest, is the answer. Interpretation written with assistance from ChatGPT.

Interpretation generated with assistance from Claude.