In honouring this larger context Clarke enlarges her poetic field with an unobtrusive but important ecopoetic dimension. When winter comes is placed quite early in the collection, and, while not disconnected from the main events, its focus is very much on the particular. The imperative voice gives the poem a gently didactic tone, reminding us that it has more general implications. The paradox of the elegy is that the poem is finite: grief, in that circumscribed world, comes to an endThe colours in When winter comes are reminders of autumn. The paradox of the elegy is that the poem is finite: grief, in that circumscribed world, comes to an end.

Source: The Guardian October 07, 2019 09:56 UTC