Seasons

Alas! in winter, dead and dark,
Where can poor Robin go?
~ William Allingham, from Flower Pieces and Other Poems (1888). Robin Redbreast

Autumn's the mellow time.
~ William Allingham, from Evil May-Day (1882). The Winter Pear

Now Autumn's fire burns slowly along the woods
And day by day the dead leaves fall and melt.
~ William Allingham, from Day and Night Songs (1854). Autumnal Sonnet

It was a chilly winter's night;
And frost was glitt'ring on the ground,
And evening stars were twinkling bright;
And from the gloomy plain around
Came no sound.
~ William Barnes, from Poems, Partly of Rural Life in National English (1846). A Winter Night

Leaves of the summer, lovely summer's pride,
Sweet is the shade below your silent tree.
~ William Barnes, from Poems, Partly of Rural Life in National English (1846). Sonnet V. Leaves

How sweet I roamed from field to field, and tasted all the summer's pride.
~ William Blake, from Poetical Sketches (1783).

In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.
~ William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790-93). Proverbs of Hell

O Autumn, laden with fruit, and stained
With the blood of the grape, pass not, but sit
Beneath my shady roof; there thou mayest rest
And tune thy jolly voice to my fresh pipe,
And all the daughters of the year shall dance!
Sing now the lusty song of fruits and flowers.
~ William Blake, from Poetical Sketches (1783). To Autumn

The Child's Toys and the Old Man's Reasons
Are the Fruits of the Two seasons.
~ William Blake, from The Pickering Manuscript (c. 1803). Auguries of Innocence

There is strange music in the stirring wind.
~ William Lisle Bowles, from Sonnets and Other Poems (1793). November

And for the season it was winter, and they that know the winters of that country know them to be sharp and violent, and subject to cruel and fierce storms. ... For summer being done, all things stand upon them with a weather-beaten face, and the whole country, full of woods and thickets, represented a wild and savage hue.
~ William Bradford, from Of Plymouth Plantation (c. 1650).

Here is the earth resurgent with color and bloom of Spring,
Glorying the dream and the vision in the song you bring.
~ William Stanley Braithwaite, in McClure's Magazine (1911). The Vision

May! Be thou never graced with birds that sing,
Nor Flora's pride!
In thee all flowers and roses spring,
Mine only died.
~ William Browne, of Tavistock, in The Poems of William Browne of Tavistock, Volume 2 (1894). Miscellaneous Poems. Epitaph: In Obitum M.s. Xo Maij (1614).

Christmas is love's festival.
~ William Jennings Bryan, from The Commoner Condensed, Volume IV (1905). Christmas—Love's Festival

And now, when comes the calm mild day, as still such days will come,
To call the squirrel and the bee from out their winter home;
When the sound of dropping nuts is heard, though all the trees are still,
And twinkle in the smoky light the waters of the rill,
The south wind searches for the flowers whose fragrance late he bore,
And sighs to find them in the wood and by the stream no more.
~ William Cullen Bryant, from Poems (1832 edition). The Death of the Flowers

Ay, thou art welcome, heaven's delicious breath!
When woods begin to wear the crimson leaf,
And suns grow meek, and the meek suns grow brief,
And the year smiles as it draws near its death.
~ William Cullen Bryant, October (1826).

Come when the rains
Have glazed the snow and clothed the trees with ice,
While the slant sun of February pours
Into the bowers a flood of light. Approach!
~ William Cullen Bryant, in The Idle Man (1821). Winter Scenes

[F]rosts and shortening days portend
The aged year is near his end.
~ William Cullen Bryant, from Poems (1832 edition). To the Fringed Gentian

Look on this beautiful world, and read the truth
In her fair page; see, every season brings
New change, to her, of everlasting youth.
~ William Cullen Bryant, from Poems (1821). The Ages

Oh, Autumn! why so soon
Depart the hues that make thy forests glad;
Thy gentle wind and thy fair sunny noon,
And leave thee wild and sad!
~ William Cullen Bryant, from Poems (1832 edition). Autumn Woods

Oh, for the fresh spring-season,
When the groves are in their prime,
And far away in the future,
Is the frosty autumn-time!
~ William Cullen Bryant, in The Atlantic Monthly (January 1865). My Autumn Walk

Patient, and waiting the soft breathe of spring.
~ William Cullen Bryant, in The Idle Man (1821). Winter Scenes

The melancholy days are come, the saddest of the year,
Of wailing winds and naked woods and meadows brown and sere.
~ William Cullen Bryant, from Poems (1832 edition). The Death of the Flowers

The stormy March has come at last,
With wind, and cloud, and changing skies;
I hear the rushing of the blast,
That through the snowy valley flies.
~ William Cullen Bryant, March. Stanza 1

I hear the ringing of the frequent rain.
~ William Henry Burleigh, from Poems (1841). Miscellaneous Sonnets. X: Rain

Look up! the wide extended plain
Is billowy with its ripened grain,
And on the summer winds are rolled
Its waves of emerald and gold.
~ William Henry Burleigh, in Poems By William Henry Burleigh With A Sketch of His life (1871). The Harvest Call

Christmas is the gentlest, loveliest festival of the revolving year -- and yet, for all that, when it speaks, its voice has strong authority.
~ William John ("W.J.") Cameron, from A Series of Talks Given on the Ford Sunday Evening Hour (1935). The Voice of Christmas

There has been only one Christmas -- the rest are anniversaries.
~ William John ("W.J.") Cameron, from A Series of Talks Given on the Ford Sunday Evening Hour (1935). Is Christmas Over?

Yellow, mellow, ripened days,
Sheltered in a golden coating;
O'er the dreamy, listless haze,
White and dainty cloudlets floating;
Winking at the blushing trees,
And the sombre, furrowed fallow;
Smiling at the airy ease,
Of the southward flying swallow
Sweet and smiling are thy ways,
Beauteous, golden Autumn days.
~ William McKendree ("Will") Carleton, from Poems (1871). Autumn Days

Make me over, mother April,
When the sap begins to stir!
~ (William) Bliss Carman, from Songs from Vagabondia (1894). Spring Song

There is something in October sets the gypsy blood astir;
We must rise and follow her,
When from every hill of flame
She calls and calls each vagabond by name.
~ (William) Bliss Carman, from More Songs from Vagabondia (1896). A Vagabond Song

A haze on the far horizon,
The infinite, tender sky,
The ripe, rich tint of the cornfields,
And the wild geese sailing high;
And all over upland and lowland
The charm of the golden-rod --
Some of us call it Autumn,
And others call it God.
~ William Herbert Carruth, published in the New England Magazine (November 1895). Each In His Own Tongue

Winter lies too long in country towns; hangs on until it is stale and shabby, old and sullen.
~ Willa Sibert Cather, My Ántonia (1918). Book II. The Hired Girls

There are two seasons in Scotland: June and winter.
~ Billy Connolly

O Winter, ruler of the inverted year!
~ William Cowper, The Task (1785). Book IV. The Winter Evening

Our severest winter, commonly called the spring.
~ William Cowper, (8 June 1783)

A bird sang sweet and strong
In the top of the highest tree,
He said, "I pour out my heart in song
For the summer that soon shall be."

But deep in the shady wood,
Another bird sang, "I pour
My heart on the solemn solitude
For the springs that return no more."
~ George William Curtis, in Yale Book of American Verse (1912). Spring Song

I turned my head and saw the wind,
Not far from where I stood,
Dragging the corn by her golden hair,
Into a dark and lonely wood.
~ William Henry (W.H.) Davies, from New Poems (1907). The Villain.

Prosperity graces the sunshine of the summer; but true godliness beautifies the gloom of the winter.
~ William Scott Downey, Proverbs, by Rev. William Scott Downey (1855 edition).

It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air.
~ William Turner (W.T.) Ellis

Christmas at my house is always at least six or seven times more pleasant than anywhere else. We start drinking early. And while everyone else is seeing only one Santa Claus, we'll be seeing six or seven.
~ W.C. Fields, in Newsweek magazine (6 January 1947).

We're all lonely enough as it is. By God, I was born lonely! ... But Christmas and New Year's and Thanksgiving and all the rest make me even more lonely. So I observe only one day -- April First. That's my day.
~ W.C. Fields, quoted in Life magazine (15 December 1972). A Holiday Visit With W.C. Fields: 'Sleigh Bells Give Me Double Nausea'

The wintry sky is gray
As the ash of a dying ember.
The snow falls white to-day, --
It is the chill November.
The breeze that sweeps the orchard floors is sighing.
The year is dying,
But not my love!
~ William Byron Forbush, The Changing Year (1893).

Oh, just now, whate'er your station,
Join the throng, let mirth have sway!
Clasp each hand in emulation,
Wish each other joy to-day.
~ William Joseph Gallagher, A New Year Reflection

Resolve, Mankind! to love and bless each other;
Forget each hateful caste, each jarring creed;
Behold in every man a friend and brother,
And minister to him as he hath need.
~ William Lloyd Garrison, from Sonnets And Other Poems (1843). The New Year

Oh, the lovely fickleness of an April day!
~ William Hamilton Gibson, Pastoral Days; or, Memories of a New England Year (1880). Spring: The Awakening

Silently, like thoughts that come and go, the snow-flakes fall, each one a gem.
~ William Hamilton Gibson, Pastoral Days; or, Memories of a New England Year (1880). Winter: The Sleep

The October day is a dream, bright and beautiful as the rainbow, and as brief and fugitive.
~ William Hamilton Gibson, Pastoral Days; or, Memories of a New England Year (1880). Autumn: The Waning

Spring and summer pleasure you,
Autumn, ay, and winter, too --
Every season has its cheer;
Life is lovely all the year!
~ William Schwenck (W.S.) Gilbert, from Songs of a Savoyard (1890). Life Is Lovely All The Year

The flowers that bloom in the spring,
Tra la,
Have nothing to do with the case.
~ William Schwenck (W.S.) Gilbert, The Mikado (1885 opera).

Gossiping on the country-side,
Spring and the wandering breezes say,
God has thrown Heaven open wide
And let the thrushes out to-day.
~ William Griffith, from City Pastorals: And Other Poems (1918). Spring Song

Ring out your gladdest notes, ye bells,
And fill with music all the air!
~ William G. Haeselbarth, from Christian Work: Illustrated Family Newspaper, Volume 61. Number 1557 (December 17, 1896). Christmas Morn

Off with the old one, then, on with the new!. ...
Happy New Year -- many, many! -- to you!
~ William Addison Houghton, in The Independent, Volume 69. Number 3239 (December 29, 1910). New Year's Eve

Summer skies are glowing
Over land and sea;
Happy light is flowing,
Bountiful and free.
Every thing rejoices
In the mellow rays;
All earth's thousand voices
Swell the psalm of praise.
~ William W. How, in Church Hymns (1871). Summer Skies Are Glowing

The year is swiftly waning,
The summer days are past;
And life, brief life, is speeding;
The end is nearing fast.
~ William W. How, in Church Hymns (1871). The Year Is Swiftly Waning

Yes! they are here again, the long, long days,
After the days of winter, pinched and white;
Soon, with a thousand minstrels comes the light,
Late, the sweet robin-haunted dusk delays.
~ William Dean Howells, from Poems (1873). The Long Days

[T]he peculiar charm of life in the country, and in the society of nature, consists in watching the different seasons of the year as they roll away before my eyes.
~ Wilhelm von Humboldt, in Letters of William Von Humboldt to a Female Friend, Vol. I (1849 translation). Letter XVII. April 25, 1823

In a somer seson, whan softe was the sonne.
~ William Langland, A Vision of William Concerning Piers Plowman (A-text; c. 1362).

This is the lonely season of the year,
This is the season of our lonely dreams.
~ William Ellery Leonard, from Two Lives: A Poem (1923). Indian Summer

Adieu pain and sorrow!
Thou old year begone!
One long and bright morrow,
Fair new year come on!
~ William Augustus Muhlenberg, from I Would Not Live Alway: And Other Pieces In Verse (1859). New Year's Eve (1830)

My heart, upon which my summer burns, short, hot, melancholy, overblissful; how my summer heart craves your coolness.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Winter, a bad guest, sitteth with me at home; blue are my hands with his friendly handshaking.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra (1885).

Winter lingered so long in the lap of Spring that it occasioned a great deal of talk.
~ (Edgar Wilson) "Bill" Nye

Autumn asks that we prepare for the future -- that we be wise in the ways of garnering and keeping. But it also asks that we learn to let go -- to acknowledge the beauty of sparseness.
~ Bonaro Wilkinson Overstreet

Sorrow and the scarlet leaf,
Sad thoughts and sunny weather;
Ah me, this glory and this grief
Agree not well together!
~ Thomas William Parsons, from Poems (1854). A Song for September

We may achieve climate, but weather is thrust upon us.
~ William Sydney Porter (O. Henry), in Rolling Stones (1912). A Fog in Santone

Christmas! -- What a multitude of associations crowd into the mind at the mere sight or mention of that word!
~ William Henry Husk, Songs of the Nativity: Being Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern (1855).

Spring is now exulting in the hills and valleys; graceful and lovely is the livery she wears.
~ William Barton Rogers (of spring blossoms on the University of Virginia campus), quoted in Appalachian Trailway News (May/June 1984). William B. Rogers: A Man and A Mountain

A day in April never came so sweet.
~ William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice. Act II, scene ix

A sad tale's best for winter. I have one of sprites and goblins.
~ William Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale

April dress'd in all his trim
Hath put a spirit of youth in every thing.
~ William Shakespeare, Sonnet 98

At Christmas I no more desire a rose
Than wish a snow in May's new-fangled mirth;
But like of each thing that in season grows.
~ William Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost. Act I, scene i

But thy eternal summer shall not fade.
~ William Shakespeare, Sonnet 18

Daffodils,
That come before the swallow dares, and take
The winds of March with beauty.
~ William Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale. Act IV, scene iv

For the rain it raineth every day.
~ William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night. Act V, scene i

How like a winter hath my absence been --
From thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year!
What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen!
What old December's bareness everywhere!
~ William Shakespeare, Sonnet 97

How many things by season seasoned are
To their right praise and true perfection!
~ William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice. Act V, scene i

In spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.
~ William Shakespeare, As You Like It. Act V, scene iii

Like to the time o' the year between the extremes
Of hot and cold, he was not sad nor merry.
~ William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra. Act I, scene v

Now 'tis the spring, and weeds are shallow-rooted;
Suffer them now, and they'll outgrow the garden,
And choke the herbs for want of husbandry.
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry VI, Part II. Act III, scene i

The April's in her eyes; it is love's spring.
~ William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra. Act III, scene ii

The seasons alter: hoary-headed frosts
Fall in the fresh lap of the crimson rose.
~ William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream. Act II, scene i

The teeming Autumn big with rich increase,
Bearing the wanton burden of the prime
Like widowed wombs after their lords' decease.
~ William Shakespeare, Sonnet 97

The yearly course that brings this day about
Shall never see it but a holiday.
~ William Shakespeare, King John. Act III, scene i

Therefore my age is as a lusty winter
Frosty, but kindly.
~ William Shakespeare, As You Like It. Act II, scene iii

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
~ William Shakespeare, Sonnet 18

Some say that ever, 'gainst that season comes
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
The bird of dawning singeth all night long;
And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad,
The nights are wholesome, then no planets strike,
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,
So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.
~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet. Act I, scene i

The spring, the summer,
The childing autumn, angry winter, change
Their wonted liveries; and the maz'd world,
By their increase, now knows not which is which.
~ William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream. Act II, scene i

The summer's flower is to the summer sweet,
Though to itself it only live and die.
~ William Shakespeare, Sonnet 94

Well could I curse away a winter's night,
Though standing naked on a mountain top,
Where biting cold would never let grass grow,
And think it but a minute spent in sport.
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry VI, Part II. Act III, scene ii

[W]inter tames man, woman and beast.
~ William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew. Act IV, scene i

Why, this is very midsummer madness.
~ William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night. Act III, scene iv

Why, what's the matter,
That you have such a February face,
So full of frost, of storm and cloudiness?
~ William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing. Act V, scene iv

There is nothing in the world more beautiful than the forest clothed to its very hollows in snow. That is a loveliness to which surely none can be insensitive. It is the still ecstasy of Nature, wherein every spray, every blade of grass, every spire of reed, every intricacy of twig, is clad with radiance ...
~ William Sharp (as Fiona Macleod), published in Country Life (1903-5). Where the Forest Murmurs

Ho, young newcomer, up and speak!
Are you that happy, glad New Year?
~ William Shattuck, The Glad New Year

There are life and joy in thy coming, spring.
~ William Gilmore Simms, Southern Passages and Pictures (1839). First Day of Spring

Though trees turn bare and girls turn wives,
We shall afford our costly seasons;
There is a gentleness survives
That will outspeak and has its reasons.
There is a loveliness exists,
Preserves us, not for specialists.
~ William De Witt (W.D.) Snodgrass, Heart's Needle (1959). April Inventory

Christmas is the time to say "I love you"
Share the joys of laughter and good cheer
Christmas is the time to say "I love you"
And a feeling that will last all through the year.
~ Billy Squier, Christmas Is The Time To Say "I Love You" (1981 single)

Shelter in winter that day --
a storm coming, but in the lee
of an island in a cover with friends --
oh, little bright cup of sun.
~ William Stafford, Some Things the World Gave

The rain keeps constantly raining,
And the sky is cold and gray,
And the wind in the trees keeps complaining
That summer has passed away; --
~ William Wetmore Story, from Graffiti d'Italia (1868). In the Rain

Christmas is here:
Winds whistle shrill,
Icy and chill,
Little care we;
Little we fear
Weather without,
Sheltered about
The Mahogany Tree.
~ William Makepeace Thackeray, from Ballads (1855). The Mahogany Tree

In winter when the days get horrider,
We long for Florider.
~ William E. "Bill" Vaughan

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.
~ William E. "Bill" Vaughan (as Burton Hillis), in Better Homes & Gardens

There are only two seasons -- winter and Baseball.
~ Bill Veeck, Jr.

Christmas is more than a time of festivities, family and friends;
it is a season of generosity, gladness and gratitude.
~ William Arthur Ward

Christmas is more than a time of music, merriment and mirth;
it is a season of meditation, mangers and miracles.
Christmas is more than a time of carols, cards and candy;
it is a season of dedication and decision.
~ William Arthur Ward

It portrays the emotions of one for whom spring is not so much a season of riot and exuberance, fresh hopes and renewed vitality, as a vision of such sweet and tender loveliness that the heart stands still in contemplation and the old unrest of the soul is put to sleep.
~ William Warlock, On Hearing the First Cukoo in Spring

The overcast, the leafless trees have made
A solemnness in me I would deny;
They seem the mirror of my dwindling days
These barren trees, this dirty cotton sky.
~ William John Watkins, Parkway Sonnet: November

April, April,
Laugh thy girlish laughter;
Then, the moment after,
Weep thy girlish tears!
~ William Watson, April (Song, 1880)

What is so sweet and dear
As a prosperous morn in May,
The confident prime of the day,
And the dauntless youth of the year,
When nothing that asks for bliss,
Asking aright, is denied,
And half of the world a bridegroom is,
And half of the world a bride?
~ William Watson, Ode in May (1897)

I like these cold, gray winter days. Days like these let you savor a bad mood.
~ Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes (12 January 1989).

[S]ee how the light of the New Year is gilding
The wan, worn face of the bruised old world.
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox, from Poems of Pleasure (1888). Part II. Philosophical. Resolve

The year's four changing seasons brought
To her own door what thousands sought
In wandering ways and did not find -
Diversion and content of mind.
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox, from New Thought Pastels (1906). Realisation

Anyone who is able to do so re­turns about this time to his home. New year is the feast of the family. The parents and the children re­unite.
~ Richard Wilhelm, The Soul of China (1928).

Few things are as democratic as a snowstorm.
~ Bern Williams, in the National Enquirer.

September tries its best to have us forget summer.
~ Bern Williams

Spring inspires much wanderlust, a lot of gardening and a little bit of bad poetry.
~ Bern Williams

The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created spring.
~ Bern Williams

Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!"
~ Robin Williams

Again I reply to the triple winds
running chromatic fifths of derision
outside my window:
Play louder.
~ William Carlos Williams, from Sour Grapes (1921). January

are the desolate, dark weeks
when nature in its barrenness
equals the stupidity of man.
The year plunges into night
and the heart plunges
lower than night.
~ William Carlos Williams, from The Complete Collected Poems Of William Carlos Williams, 1906-1938 (1938). These

In summer the song sings itself.
~ William Carlos Williams, from Collected Poems, 1921-1931 (1934). The Botticellian Trees

It is summer, it is the solstice
the crowd is
cheering, the crowd is laughing
in detail
permanently, seriously
without thought.
~ William Carlos Williams, from Spring and All (1923). At the Ball Game

Lifeless in appearance, sluggish
dazed spring approaches --
~ William Carlos Williams, from Spring and All (1923).

Some leaves hang late, some fall
before the first frost--so goes
the tale of winter branches and old bones.
~ William Carlos Williams, from Sour Grapes (1921). The Soughing Wind

Thus having prepared their buds
against a sure winter
the wise trees
stand sleeping in the cold.
~ William Carlos Williams, from Sour Grapes (1921). Winter Trees

With what deep thirst
we quicken our desires
to that rank odor of a passing springtime!
~ William Carlos Williams, from Al Que Quiere! A Book of Poems (1917). Smell

It is the month of June,
The month of leaves and roses,
When pleasant sights salute the eyes,
And pleasant scents the noses.
~ Nathaniel Parker (N.P.) Willis, The Month of June

Spring is a beautiful piece of work.
~ Nathaniel Parker (N.P.) Willis, Out-doors at Idlewild; or, The Shaping of a Home on the Banks of the Hudson (1855). Letter VIII

I like to sit
And laugh at it -
And tend
My cozy fire a bit.
I like the fall -
The mist and all.
~ Dixie Willson, The Mist and All

The fear of Winter then -- but now the hope of Summer; and Nature rings with hymns hailing the visible advent of the perfect year.
~ John Wilson, in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine (1833). Retribution

Stern winter loves a dirge-like sound.
~ William Wordsworth, Yarrow Revisited and Other Poems (1835). On the Power of Sound (1828)

Thrice welcome, darling of the Spring!
Even yet thou art to me
No bird, but an invisible thing,
A voice, a mystery.
~ William Wordsworth, from Poems in Two Volumes, Volume I (1807). To the Cuckoo

That we can al wish each other "A Happy New Year" implies the general hope of a future in which there shall be no more sighing.
~ William Burnet Wright, The World to Come (1887). Preface

I could weep that the old is out of season.
~ William Butler Yeats, from In The Seven Woods (1904). The Arrow