New Year’s Eve

‘New Year’s Eve’: A Poem by A. E. Housman

by

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

The bells ring out for the New Year in this poem, ‘New Year’s Eve’, from A. E. Housman (1859-1936). But they are ‘ringing no tune’, and, ominously, ‘dead knells’. The poem doesn’t reflect new beginnings but rather the death throes of an old order: old religions, old kingdoms, old empires.

New Year’s Eve

The end of the year fell chilly
Between a moon and a moon;
Thorough the twilight shrilly
The bells rang, ringing no tune.

The windows stained with story,
The walls with miracle scored,
Were hidden for gloom and glory
Filling the house of the Lord.

Read more

10 of the Best Poems for New Year

by

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Seeing in the New Year is a time-honoured tradition, so it should come as little surprise that many of the greatest poets have written about the New Year in their work. Below is our pick of ten of the best New Year poems, along with some information about each poem.

Anonymous, ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’.

Ande þer þay dronken, and dalten, and demed eft nwe
To norne on þe same note on Nwe Ȝerez euen;
Bot þe knyȝt craued leue to kayre on þe morn,
For hit watz neȝ at þe terme þat he to schulde.
Þe lorde hym letted of þat, to lenge hym resteyed,
And sayde, ‘As I am trwe segge, I siker my trawþe
Þou schal cheue to þe grene chapel þy charres to make,
Leude, on Nw Ȝerez lyȝt, longe bifore pryme.

We’re kicking off this list of the best New Year poems with a long narrative poem from the fourteenth century, partly because it features the earliest known instance of the phrase ‘New Year’s Eve’ (as ‘nweȝerez euen’) and partly because

Read more