Christmas-Tide

A collection of verse that captures the warmth and wonder of the holiday season as imagined in late Victorian America. Howard's poems move through Christmas-Tide with an easy grace, celebrating everything from the quiet joy of domestic scenes to the spirited merriment of festive gatherings. There are reflections on the religious heart of the season, verses devoted to seasonal sights and sounds, and poems that simply delight in the peculiar happiness that arrives with December. The humor here is gentle and playful, never mean-spirited, while the tender moments carry genuine emotional weight without tipping into sentimentality. These are poems written for readers who wanted their Christmas reading to feel like sitting by a warm fire with good company. Though lesser-known today, Howard possessed a sure hand with meter and a poet's instinct for the telling detail. Whether describing the anticipation of holiday guests or the quiet of a winter night, her voice carries the particular charm of Victorian-era American verse: accessible, warm, and unpretentiously joyful.