“An Old Man’s Winter Night”
Robert Frost
All out of doors looked darkly in at him
Through the thin frost, almost in separate stars,
That gathers on the pane in empty rooms.
| What kept his eyes from giving back the gaze Was the lamp tilted near them in his hand. What kept him from remembering what it was That brought him to that creaking room was age. He stood with barrels round him—at a loss. And having scared the cellar under him In clomping there, he scared it once again In clomping off;—and scared the outer night, Which has its sounds, familiar, like the roar Of trees and crack of branches, common things, But nothing so like beating on a box. A light he was to no one but himself Where now he sat, concerned with he knew what, A quiet light, and then not even that. He consigned to the moon, such as she was, So late-arising, to the broken moon As better than the sun in any case For such a charge, his snow upon the roof, His icicles along the wall to keep; And slept. The log that shifted with a jolt Once in the stove, disturbed him and he shifted, And eased his heavy breathing, but still slept. One aged man—one man—can’t fill a house, A farm, a countryside, or if he can, It’s thus he does it of a winter night. |
C. Christopher Smith is the founding editor of The Englewood Review of Books. He is also author of a number of books, including most recently How the Body of Christ Talks: Recovering the Practice of Conversation in the Church (Brazos Press, 2019). Connect with him online at: C-Christopher-Smith.com
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![Barbara Mahany — The Stillness of Winter [Review]](https://englewoodreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/StillnessOfWinter-e1611775212262.jpg "Barbara Mahany — The Stillness of Winter [Review]")
There’s never been anyone quite as good as Frost at bringing his familiar, ordinary surroundings into focus, a focus that also reveals his own inner turmoil, or questioning, or observation. This must have been written during his old age, and even the age of the house, and the time of year, and the “broken moon” reflect what age feels like.