6 Writings for the Winter Solstice
I live along the 61st parallel, which means right now—one month before the winter solstice—we have about eight hours of daylight. By December 21st, that number will be down to about five and a half. It is, and will continue to be for several months, cold and dark.
My first instinct this week was to round up writings that light a spark. “The Veldt,” by Ray Bradbury maybe, where George Hadley feels the sun scalding the top of his head on the African veldt. Or Jamaica Kincaid’s “Island Morning”—an essay drenched in sunshine and warmth. Or maybe even Mary Oliver’s “The Sun,” which blends celebration of sunlight and the world it lights with a classic Oliver-ian poke to the psyche in the last stanza.
I love those texts, but they didn’t feel right for December. And so, instead of pulling away from the winter solstice, I decided to bundle up and lean in.
Winter Solstice by Hilda Morely
Morely doesn’t get the celebration she deserves, especially considering what a prolific and well-liked poet she was. In “Winter Solstice,” Morely plays with space, shape, and imagery associated with the shortest day of the year.
Burn Something Today by Nina MacLaughlin
MacLaughlin wrote four installments in her column Winter Solstice for The Paris Review. “Burn Something Today” is the last installment in that series. This essay gives students the opportunity to examine how writers play with form (MacLaughlin asks questions, varies sentence length, and shifts between introspective meditations and straightforward narration about winter) and figurative language, and the ways in which writers respond to other writers (MacLaughlin includes snippets of writing by James Joyce, Herman Melville, and Rita Dove, to name a few). If you’re looking for a short text to teach intertextuality, this essay would work well.
Toward the Winter Solstice by Timothy Steele
“Toward the Winter Solstice” is written in iambs, and so each line in the poem feels as though it actually is marching towards something. I like this poem because it portrays the winter solstice in Los Angeles—a city not typically associated with the cold and dark—with winter and holiday imagery all its own.
Solstice Blessing by Monica Ong
Want to give your students something unusual? This poem fits the bill. “Solstice Blessing” is part of Monica Ong: Planetaria, a collection of visual poetry. This video, produced by Poetry Foundation, is an excellent introduction to the exhibition. If nothing else, watch the introduction to and listen to the reading of “The Stargazer,” which starts at 6:00. It’s not strictly about the winter solstice, but it’s a great explanation of visual poetry and a beautiful reading of the poem itself.
Between Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice, Today by Emily Jungmin Yoon
This beautiful little poem comes with a lesson plan prepared by Poets.org which provides options for small group and whole class discussion and extensions for middle and high school classes. In this poem, Yoon narrates a moment drinking tea and thinking about “today.”
Solstice Litany by Jim Harrison
It’s worth exploring which definition of “litany” best fits the title of this poem. Written in five parts, Harrison creates different images and moments in the summer and winter solstices.