Eliza Cook (1817-1889)
“Snow”
Editorial Introduction
Works Cited in the Editorial Introduction and in Annotations
- “Gaffer, N.” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, December 2024.
- Cook, Eliza. “Contents”, Melaia and Other Poems. Published by J. and H.G. Langley, 1838. Google Books. Accessed on 19 October 2025.
- Easley, Alexis. “Eliza Cook, New Media Innovator.” New Media and the Rise of the Popular Woman Writer, 1832–1860, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2022, pp. 53–96.
- Robinson, Solveig C. “Cook, Eliza (1812–1889), poet and journalist.”Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. January 12, 2023. Oxford University Press. Date of access 19 Oct.
2025.
Reading Questions
- In what ways do Victorian ideals shape the speaker’s understanding of the snow?
- How does the characterization of the personified Winter as “Brave” contribute to the meaning of the first stanza or the poem overall?
- What difference does it make that Cook chose to personify Winter instead of simply describing it like she does with the snow?
- How do the descriptions of the snow as “icicle gems,” “glittering diadems,” and ermine mantle” impact the reader’s understanding of the snow and the speaker’s relationship to it?
- How does the separation of the boys and elderly men in stanza three from the speaker and her nurse in stanza four demonstrate a difference in how gender impacted how people experienced the natural world?
Brave Winter and I shall ever agree,
Though a stern and frowning gaffer is he.
I like to hear him, with hail and rain,
Come tapping against the window pane;
I joy to see him come marching forth
Begirt with the icicle gems of the north;
But I like him best when he comes bedight
In his velvet robes of stainless white.
A cheer for the snow—the drifting snow!
Smoother and purer than beauty’s brow! 10
The creature of thought scarce likes to tread
On the delicate carpet so richly spread.
With feathery wreaths the forest is bound,
And the hills are with glittering diadems crown’d;
’Tis the fairest scene we can have below.
Sing, welcome, then, to the drifting snow!
The urchins gaze with eloquent eye
To see the flakes go dancing by.
In the thick of the storm how happy are they
To welcome the first deep snowy day; 20
Shouting and pelting—what bliss to fall
Half-smother’d beneath the well-aim’d ball!
Men of fourscore, did ye ever know
Such sport as ye had in the drifting snow?
I’m true to my theme, for I loved it well.
When the gossiping nurse would sit and tell
The tale of the geese—though hardly believed—
I doubted and question’d the words that deceived.
I rejoice in it still, and love to see
The ermine mantle on tower and tree. 30
’Tis the fairest scene we can have below.
Hurrah! then, hurrah! for the drifting snow!
