As the day draws to a close, a family prepares for Christmas - decorating the tree, hanging stockings by the fire, putting out a plate of mince pies...
Outside, the world turns to white.
'No breath of wind,
No gleam of sun
Still the white snow
Whirls softly down'
Snow
Description
Author Description
Walter de la Mare (1873-1956) was born in Charlton, Kent. In 1890, aged sixteen, he began work in the statistics department of the London office of Anglo-American Oil. In 1907 he published his first collection of poems under the pseudonym Walter Ramal, but he soon established a wide popular reputation in his own name as a leading poet of the Georgian period with volumes like The Listeners (1912), Motley (1918) and The Veil (1921). He also wrote poetry and short stories for younger readers; Peacock Pie (1913), a collection of poems for children, is now considered a twentieth-century classic.