Reader’s Corner: The fireside poets

On winter evenings, one of my favorite things to do is curl up in a cozy chair near our fireplace to read. And recently, I’ve rediscovered that I like reading poetry, including a group of American poets who likely earned their nickname because people in the 1800s enjoyed reading their poems while spending time by the fire. 

Most commonly referred to under this heading are Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Greenleaf Whittier, Oliver Wendell Holmes, James Russell Lowell and William Cullen Bryant. Their poetry often includes the simplicity and rhythms of nature, but also uses those rhythms to frame the historical context of difficult current or recent events and political climate in which the poets themselves lived. As a group, they tended to use conventional rhyme and meter forms, making their poems popular for memorization and recitation at school and in homes. And although the questions and events change, the truths the poets explored are timeless. 

Anyone familiar with “Listen, my children, and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere”? Or perhaps a teacher quoted from Whittier’s “Snowbound” during the winter if the weather forecast included the possibility of missing school for snow days? More serious topics included the Civil War, abolitionism and westward expansion policies. And I had to look up Oliver Wendell Holmes’ “Old Ironsides” while visiting historic New England ports on vacation. 

Studies are starting to show numerous health benefits of reducing screen time; and the nonprofit Stronger Memory (www.strongermemory.org), featured in a Globe article last year, cites research showing the value of reading aloud in recovering brain health after trauma or in reversing age-related memory decline. 

While many of us understandably enjoy the return of longer hours of sunlight for outdoor activities, there are still a few weeks left of some darker and possibly chilly evenings. Why not trigger some childhood memories, teach children and grandchildren about rhyme and rhythm, or just relax and unwind from current news, by spending some time with the Fireside Poets!