Windy Nights
By Robert Louis Stevenson
Whenever the moon and stars are set,
Whenever the wind is high,
All night long in the dark and wet,
A man goes riding by.
Whenever the wind is high,
All night long in the dark and wet,
A man goes riding by.
Late in the night when the fires are out,
Why does he gallop and gallop about?
Why does he gallop and gallop about?
Whenever the trees are crying aloud,
And ships are tossed at sea,
And ships are tossed at sea,
By, on the highway, low and loud,
By at the gallop goes he.
By at the gallop he goes, and then
By he comes back at the gallop again.
By at the gallop goes he.
By at the gallop he goes, and then
By he comes back at the gallop again.
Who do you think the man is?
While you are thinking about that, here is the second poem:
Who has seen the wind?
by Christina Georgina Rosetti
Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you.
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.
Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I.
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.
Neither I nor you.
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.
Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I.
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.
I'm looking forward to reading about your ideas!
Wow! All right, well, I love both of these poems, but I would have to say that the first “Windy Nights” is my favourite. Being an avid reader, I have had the fortune of reading “The Dark Is Rising”. This poem reminds me completely of that book! The dark aura that surrounds the mysterious strangers as he gallops on his black stallion, cutting through the rain and fog like a lighting bolt! I can simply picture the cover!!!! It also reminds me a bit of “Sleepy Hollow”, the rider being the headless horseman. It simply oozes some kind of dark and haunting romantic air that I cannot help but fall for!! :)
ReplyDeleteThe second is less cryptic than the other poem, and a lot simpler. It’s very straight forward, yet I sense that there is more of a message behind it. When the author uses “leaves are trembling” and “when the trees bow their heads”, I feel an odd and very realistic weight. It makes me think about the poem on a deeper level.
These are my thoughts about the poems. Way to get into the spirit of Halloween, and autumn in general. My favourite celebration and season! Fabulous choice, and I hope to see lots more spooky poems on the blog soon! >:)
Happy hauntings….Mwahahaha!
I think it's about Santa Claus galloping around town and giving presents. This poem reminds me of the part in Narnia when Santa Claus escapes from the witch's house and gives everyone presents in Narnia.
ReplyDeleteI also think that a ghost might be galloping around town? I like Hallowe'en! I like it because everyone puts on a costume and goes trick or treating. Last year's Hallowe'en I was Death. I like trick or treating, because I get free candy. My favourite candy is Airheads. Last year, I got a full bag of candy!! I mostly got Aeros.
I like Christmas too, even though I don't celebrate it. I like it because it snows and I like to play in the snow. Me and my friends built a BIG snow fort. I built a snowman at my backyard.
I think the second poem is about autumn and all the leaves falling. And the wind is more cooler. I like autumn. I like it because all the leaves are falling and I can play with them.
Well that's all I have to say!
I like the poems that you post on our site. The poem that I like is "Who has seen the wind", because my old music teacher taught us that song in Grade 3. Oh, the Windy Night is a really cool song to sing in class, it is a fun song.
ReplyDeletelove, me.
OK, the first poem is great, but I still say that the second poem is a bit better (not to say that I could do it any better, if I was to write a poem!). But one of the reasons I like the other song (poem), was that I performed that song by myself so that's one reason I like it.
ReplyDeleteI also have to say a few things about the first poem, too. The poem is like a mysterious type of poem when I read it. And the thing I like about both of the poems is that they perfectly fit the weather that we're having in Toronto now. Another reason I like the second poem, is that it sounds sort of Chinese to me. I love China. Good job on picking the poems, Ms. K., you picked the perfect poems for this type of weather!
I liked the poems because they were interesting and it's beause they made me cold.
ReplyDeleteTo Windy Night: We like your poem because we like poems that give us a scare! Thank you! :D
ReplyDeleteI like Windy October, because it has been a cool and windy October. I can't wait, it is almost Hallowe'en! I can't wait, because soon we are going to post Hallowe'en poems. Happy Hallowe'en MWahahahahahaha!
ReplyDeleteI really like Windy Nights better, because it's interesting and I like how the rhythm goes and you have to think about it to get the answer. My answer would be that it is a good guy and he's just passing by.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great poem! I think the man is a haunt rider and he only rides at night to scare people from the places. This also reminds me of Santa Claus going around and also The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The second poem is air. Wind goes around and makes people cold and nobody can see wind, so the poem is true.
ReplyDeleteThe poems are great, they remind me of Hallowe'en. The second poem makes me think of wind and colourful leaves, also it reminds me of another poem: Five Little Pumpkins
ReplyDeleteFive little pumpkins sitting in a row
One said, "I love Hallowe'en!"
The second one said, "When are the tricks starting?"
The third one said, "I'm bored."
The fourth one said, "The time is almost up!"
The last one said, "The spooks start now!"
First of all, we like the first poem because we think that the mysterious man is Santa Claus, because it said that he went galloping around and we think that it's Santa Claus's reindeer galloping around to give presents to kids. I also agree with Gemma, because it kinda reminds me of the book The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. That is why we like the first poem better than the other poem. Also, we learned another version to the second poem. Why we like the first poem better than the second poem is because it is about a holiday and it's also kind of like a mystery and we like mysteries! We like Hallowe'en because we get free candies! Why we like Christmas is because we get free presents. Happy holidays everybody!!!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeletePS: I love our blog! :)
ReplyDeleteDear Ms. K, (Windy Night) Why is the poem about a man? Why can't it be a girl or a woman? (Who has seen the wind) We like the poem because we like crunching leaves. from Katelyn & Samantha
ReplyDeleteThanks to everyone for putting some real thought into your comments this week and for making great connections! I can see that many of us are thinking about the novel we are reading now in class, "Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" - yes, creepy witches and other creatures just like Hallowe'en, Turkish Delight (candies!) AND Santa Claus (since, before Aslan came, it was "always winter and never Christmas"!) The Legend of Sleepy Hollow came up, too...so you are making lots of text to text connections (Narnia, Sleepy Hollow, Erfan & Andaleeb's Pumpkin poem) AND text to world connections (your ideas about October and holidays and weather) AND text to self connections(feeling scared, feeling cold, getting candies, being excited about Hallowe'en!)...very advanced stuff everyone! :) Fantastic!!
ReplyDeleteI don't think there are any right or wrong answers, but I always thought of the man galloping about as the wind itself, the wind "galloping" around on a wild night, stirring up the leaves and rattling my windows...just my thought.
Samantha and Katelyn, you are absolutely right! Notice that the second poem is written by a woman, though...! Anyway, watch for the next poem, I hope you will like it....! :)