What does winter mean to us all? What effect do the winter months have on us?…

• Self-reflection and discovery

Nocturne: Grey and Gold – Chelsea Snow – James Abbott Mcneill Whistler. 1876. Wikioo

“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”

Albert Camus

In this powerful quotation, Camus speaks of the resilience that is couched within the human breast, and of discovering inside oneself some of the brightness of summer in the middle of winter.

He speaks symbolically, perhaps referring to the painful, hard or low periods in life and the dawning awareness of an irrepressible, unshakeable, internal strength that is within us all.

Camus is highlighting a part of us that lies in the very depths of ourselves, sometimes in our unconscious mind; we often discover this only when problems and difficulties arise and reveal unexpected strength and fortitude within us.

Hans Andersen Brendekilde . Melting Snow (1895),  Fyns Kunstmuseum, Odense, Denmark. Wikimedia Commons.

“Wisdom comes with winters.”

Oscar Wilde

As time passes and we age, as more wintry times may come along, we may find some compensation in increasing wisdom and the richness gained through a multitude of life experiences. Wilde may be referring to the ageing process, and perhaps the coming of winter for all of us, no matter what our age.

This is a time for everyone to consider and contemplate their life and to gain fresh perspectives on old ways of thinking, in preparation for a coming year of new beginnings.

• Waiting, patience and hope

John Everett Millais – Blow Blow Thou Winter Wind. 1892. Wikimedia Commons

“O, wind, if winter comes, can spring be far behind?”

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Shelley is reminding us of an important fact of life; the seasons will change, without any doubt, and we need to know this, to bear in mind that light will follow dark and that spring is guaranteed to arrive. We just need to have faith that this will happen, faith and patience.

“But believe me, my dear boy, there is nothing stronger than those two: patience and time, they will do it all.”

Tolstoy, War and Peace.

A major theme of Tolstoy’s War And Peace is that life events happen slowly, and, both personally and universally, results do not occur just because we wish for them to do so. The message is that we must learn to wait for whatever outcome we are hoping for.

“No winter lasts forever, no spring skips its turn.”

Hal Borland

We cannot force change, but it will occur in good time. In the same way, we must endure the winters of life in order to experience calmer, and ‘warmer’ times.

“Adopt the pace of nature. Her secret is patience.” 

Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Peder Mønsted – Snowy Forest Road in Sunlight (1908) Oil on canvas. Wikimedia Commons

“Life meanders like a path through the woods. We have seasons when we flourish and seasons when the leaves fall from us, revealing our bare bones. Given time, they grow again.”

Katherine May, Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times. Penguin. p 78

Caspar David Friedrich. Monk in the Snow.1807/8. Wikimedia Commons

“I do an awful lot of thinking and dreaming about things in the past and the future – the timelessness of the rocks and the hills – all the people who have existed there. I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape – the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn’t show.”

Andrew Wyeth

Winter does afford us the chance to reflect, to engage in ‘thinking and dreaming.’ As Wyeth says, we need to wait for whatever might arise after winter has gone, so that we can find ‘the whole story.’ Beneath the layer of snow rest the buds and shoots of new life, new growth, new stories… and new hopes for the coming year.

• Winter can stimulate creativity and inspiration      

Haystacks (Effect of Snow and Sun) – Claude Monet. 1891. Wikioo.

“Let us love winter, for it is the spring of genius.”

Pietro Aretino

In her wonderful book, ‘Wintering,’ quoted above, Katherine May reveals how winter can be a time of transformation and of repair, and how we might manage the ‘fallow’ periods of our life; her writing is truly poetic. She finds much valuable learning in the world of nature, and she brings this winter scene alive for us in all its colour and in all its glory…

Franz Marc – The Foxes.1913. Wikimedia Commons

“The starkness of winter can reveal colours we would otherwise miss. I once watched a fox cross a frosty field, her coat shining against the gloom. Walking in the bare winter woodland, I am surrounded by astonishing foxy reds: the deep burnish of bracken, its dry fronds twisted to lacework; the deep crimson leaves left on brambles; the last remaining berries on honeysuckle; and orangey clusters of rose hips. The iconic holly, its boughs so thoroughly raided each Christmas. There is also the bright yellow of gorse on heathland, going on until spring comes, the stately evergreens and the tangle of green leaves that remain unnoticed on the ground. Life goes on, abundantly in winter, and this is where changes are made that usher us into future glories.”

Katherine May, Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times. Penguin. p 81

Winter can often bring feelings of retreat, isolation and quiet. Then, creativity can be stimulated, as we can have the opportunity to focus inward, away from the world and into ourselves and our deepest thoughts and emotions. Katherine May reminds us that life goes on, despite the cold and the slower pace; there is still abundant growth and creativity.

Yet so many writers and artists have benefitted from the inevitable slowing down that winter brings. Snow itself can represent a kind of pause, with everything blanketed and hidden beneath the whiteness.

Trees In Snow – Eanger Irving Couse. c 1896-8. Wikioo

“Snow had fallen

 Snow on snow on snow

In the bleak midwinter.”

Christina Georgina Rossetti

• Memories

“Snow provokes responses that reach right back to childhood.”

Andy Goldsworthy

Almost everyone has some kind of childhood memories of snow. For children, snow can be very exciting and magical, creating a wonderland out of a garden or a field.

Watching the multitude of sparkling flakes as they twirl softly down from a leaden sky is an experience that holds promise…the promise of making snowballs, building a snowman, sledging down a hill, with red cheeks and fingers tingling and bright eyes full of fun, mischief and laughter.

“There’s just something beautiful about walking in snow that nobody else has walked on. It makes you believe you’re special.”

Carol Rifka Brunt

Somehow, this feeling of excitement can last right into adulthood! A fall of snow inevitably awakens in many of us a sense of wonder, a feeling of nostalgia, and a rush of memories. Somehow, snow gives us permission to behave like a child in the cold, fresh air, to roll and throw snowballs, to enjoy the crunch of boots on new snow…

Pierre Bonnard: Snow Ball, Children and Dog in the Garden at Grand-Lemps. c. 1904. Wikimedia Commons

“The first snow awakens a childlike wonder in even the oldest of hearts.”

Lewis Carroll

© Linda Berman

See you next Tuesday for part 2 of this post! 😉