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He comes — he comes — the Frost Spirit comes! You may trace his footsteps now
On the naked woods and the blasted fields and the brown hil’s withered brow.
He has smitten the leaves of the gray old trees where their pleasant green came forth,
And the winds, which follow wherever he goes, have shaken them down to earth.
He comes — he comes — the Frost Spirit comes! — from the frozen Labrador —
Fro m the icy bridge of the Northern seas, which the white bear wanders o’er —
Whe re the fisherman’s sail is stiff with ice, and the luckless forms below In t he sunless cold of the lingering night into marble statues grow!
He comes — he comes — the Frost Spirit comes! — on the rushing Northern blast,
And the dark Norwegian pines have bowed as his fearful breath went past.
Wit h an unscorched wing he has hurried on, where the fires of Hekla glow
On the darkly beautiful sky above and the ancient ice below.
He comes — he comes — the Frost Spirit comes! — and the quiet lake shall feel
The torpid touch of his glazing breath, and ring to the skater’s heel;
And the streams which danced on the broken rocks, or sang to the leaning grass,
Shall bow again to their winter chain, and in mournful silence pass.
He comes — he comes — the Frost Spirit comes! — let us meet him as we may,
And turn with the light of the parlor-fire his evil power away;
And gather closer the circle round, when that firelight dances high,
And laugh at the shriek of the baffled Fiend as his sounding wing goes by!
( John Greenleaf Whittier )
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892) was born near the little town of Haverhill, Massachusetts, about twenty miles from Salem, the birthplace of Hawthorne. The old farmhouse in which Whittier was born was built by the poet’s great-great-grandfather, and it still stands to mark the site of the old home. His family were Quakers, sturdy of character as of stature. Whittier’s boyhood was in complete contrast to that of Lowell and Longfellow. He led the life of a typical New England farm boy, used to hard work, no luxuries, and few pleasures. His library consisted practically of one book, the family Bible, which was later supplemented by a copy of Bums’s Poems, loaned him by the district schoolmaster. Whittier is often compared with Bums in the simple homeliness of his style, his patriotism, his fiery indignation at wrong, and his sympathy with the humble and the oppressed.
blasted : withered
smitten : destroyed by touch
Answer the following questions.
1) Why does the poet personify “The Frost Spirit”?
2) How can we “trace his footsteps” on woods and fields
3) What is the “icy bridge of the northern seas”?
4) Why does the poet say “In the sunless cold of the lingering night”?
5) What does the poet mean by the “shriek of the baffled Fiend”