Welcome to the final episode in Season 16 of The Well Read Poem podcast! Since summer is upon us, we thought it right to present six poems written on one subject or another in some way inspired by the present season. These works are of a diversity of hands, times, and moods, and we hope that they will add something pleasant to your reading life as the days and nights grow warmer.

Today's poem is "Summer" by Christina Rossetti. Poem reading begins at timestamp 3:06 or 6:44.

To learn more about Thomas Banks, visit HouseofHumaneLetters.com, and to listen to our flagship podcast, head to TheLiterary.Life. You can also find free downloadable, printable files with all the poems read on the podcast on our Well Read Poem webpage.

Summer

by Christina Rossetti

Winter is cold-hearted,   Spring is yea and nay, Autumn is a weathercock   Blown every way: Summer days for me   When every leaf is on its tree; When Robin's not a beggar,   And Jenny Wren's a bride, And larks hang singing, singing, singing,   Over the wheat-fields wide,   And anchored lilies ride, And the pendulum spider   Swings from side to side, And blue-black beetles transact business,   And gnats fly in a host, And furry caterpillars hasten   That no time be lost, And moths grow fat and thrive, And ladybirds arrive. Before green apples blush,   Before green nuts embrown, Why, one day in the country   Is worth a month in town;   Is worth a day and a year Of the dusty, musty, lag-last fashion   That days drone elsewhere.