Thomas Campion's poem 'Now winter nights …' from his 'The Third Book of Ayres' is a 400-year-old song celebrating the consolations of winter. The poet, who was also a composer and physician, delivers the piece with the grace and precision typical of his intellectually ambitious work.
The poem uses iambic trimeter as its dominant rhythm, but each verse's penultimate line expands to iambic pentameter, mirroring the lengthening winter nights. Campion contrasts the darkness and storms outside with the blaze of domestic pleasures inside, including wine, candlelight, and harmonious words.
In the second verse, Campion notes that winter is conducive to lovers' long discourse, though he warns that 'all do not all things well'. The poem concludes that while love and its pleasures are but toys, they help shorten the tedious nights. Campion's rhymes are used unobtrusively and intelligently, refreshing old favourites like 'love/remove' and 'joys/toys'.
Campion, known for his criticism of 'ear-pleasing' rhymes in his treatise 'Observations in the Art of English Poesie', here demonstrates his skill in using rhyme with art and precision. The poem remains a masterful example of how to find delight in the winter season.
