I have often thought, says Sir Roger, it happens very well that Christmas should fall out in the Middle of Winter.

-Addison,Joseph
  In The Spectator, no.269, 8  Jan.

It was no summer progress. A cold coming they had of it, at this time of the year; just, the worst time of the year, to take a journey, and specially a long journey, in. The ways deep, the weather sharp, the days short, the sun farthest off in solstitio brumali, the very dead of winter. See Eliot 306:73.

-Andrewes, Lancelot
  Of the Nativity, sermon15.

And nowe in the winter, when men kill the fat swine They get the bladder and blow it great and thin, With many beans and peason put within: It ratleth, soundeth, and shineth clere and fayre While it is throwen and caste up in the ayre, Each one contendeth and hath a great delite With foote and with hands the bladder for to smite; If it fall to grounde, they lifte it up agayne, But this waye to labour they count in no payne.

-Anonymous
Medieval verse, one of the earliest descriptions of football in England.

   My Love in her attire doth show her wit, It doth so well become her; For every season she hath dressings fit, For winter, spring, and summer. No beauty she doth miss When all her robes are on; But beauty's self she is When all her robes are gone.

-Anonymous
'Madrigal'. Collected in F Davison (ed) Poetical Rhapsody (1602).

Talis, inquiens, mihi videtur, rex, vita hominum praesens in terris, ad comparationem eius, quod nobis incertum est, temporis, quale cum te residente, ad caenam cum ducibus ac ministris tuis tempore brumale†adveniens unus passerum domum citissime, pervolaverit; qui cum per unum ostium ingrediens, mox per aliud exierit. Ipso quidem tempore, quo intus est, hiemis tempestate non tangitur, sed tamen parvissimo spatio serenitatis ad momentum excurso, mox de hieme in hiemem regrediens, tuis oculis elabitur. Ita haec vita hominum ad modicum apparet; quid autem sequatur, quidve praecesserit, prorsus ignoramus. 'Such,' he said,'O King, seems to me the present life of menon earth, incomparisonwiththattimewhichtousis uncertain, as if when on a winter's night you sit feasting with your ealdormen and thegnsöa single sparrow should flyswiftly intothehall, and coming inat one door, instantly flyoutthrough another.Inthattime inwhichit is indoorsit isindeed nottouched by thefuryofthewinter, and yet, this smallest space of calmness being passed almost in a flash, from winter going into winter again, it is lost to your eyes. Somewhat like this appears the life of man; but of what follows or what went before, we are utterly ignorant.'

-Bede known as  'theVenerable'
Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis  Anglorum (Ecclesiastical History of the English People, translated byB Colgrave,1969), bk.2, ch.13.

My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fairone, and come away.For lo, thewinter ispast, the rain is over and gone.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Song of Solomon 2:10^11.

O Winter! bar thine adamantine doors. The north is thineöthere hast thou built thy dark Deep-founded habitation. Shake not thy roofs, Nor bend thy pillars with thine iron car.

-Blake,William
  Poetical Sketches,'To Winter'.

The winter wind is loud and wild, Come close to me, my darling child; Forsake thy books, and mateless play; And, while the night isgathering grey, We'll talk its pensive hours away. Brooke

-Bronte«  , EmilyJane
  'Faith and Despondency', in Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell.

My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods. Time will changeit,I'mwellaware, aswinterchangesthetrees. My Love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneathöa source of little visible delight but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff.

-Bronte«  , EmilyJane
  Wuthering Heights, ch.9.

Winter lies too long in country towns; hangs on until it is stale and shabby, old and sullen.

-Cather,Willa Sibert
  My  Antonia, bk.2, ch.7.

While Spring shall pour his showers, as oft he wont, And bathe thy breathing tresses, meekest Eve! While Summer loves to sport Beneath thy lingering light; While sallow Autumn fills thy lap with leaves, Or Winter, yelling through the troublous air, Affrights thy shrinking train, And rudely rends thy robes.

-Collins,William
  Odes on Several Descriptive and  Allegoric Subjects,'Ode to Evening', l.41^8.

Our severest winter, commonly called the spring.

-Cowper,William
  Letter to Rev William Unwin, 8  Jun.

Wellcome, all Wonders in one sight! Eternity shut in a span. Summer in Winter, Day in Night. Heaven in Earth and God in Man.

-Crashaw, Richard
  'Hymn of the Nativity' (published1652), l.79.

He brought light out of darkness, not out of a lesser light; he canbring thysummerout of winter, though thou have no spring† God comes to thee, not as in the dawning of the day, not as in the bud of the spring, but as the sun at noontoillustrateall shadows,asthesheavesinharvestto fill all penuries. All occasions invite his mercies, and all times are his seasons.

-Donne,John
  Sermons,'Christmas Day,1624'.

Here lies, bowl'd out by Death's unerring ball, A cricketer renowned, by name John Small; But though his name was small, yet great was his fame, For nobly did he play the'noble game'. His life was like his inningsölong and good; Full ninety summers had Death withstood, At length the ninetieth winter cameöwhen (Fate Not leaving him one solitary mate) This last of Hambledonians, old John Small, Gave up his bat and ballöhis leather, wax and all.

-Egan, Pierce
  Epitaph on cricketer  John Small. Pierce Egan's Book of Sports.

The winter evening settles down With smell of steaks in passageways Six o'clock. The burnt-out ends of smoky days.

-Eliot,T(homas) S(tearns)
  Prufrock and Other Observations,'Preludes', pt.1.

A cold coming we had of it, Just the worst time of the year For a journey, and such a long journey: The ways deep and the weather sharp, The very dead of winter.

-Eliot,T(homas) S(tearns)
  'The  Journey of the Magi'.

Remember the rights of the savage, as we call him. Remember that the happiness of his humble home, remember that the sanctity of life in the hill villages of Afghanistan, among the winter snows, is as inviolable in the eye of Almighty God as can be your own.

-Gladstone,W(illiam) E(wart)
  Speech at Edinburgh Foresters'Hall, during the Midlothian Campaign, 26 Nov.

Twice a week the winter through Here I stood to keep the goal: Football then was fighting sorrow For the young man's soul.

-Housman, A(lfred) E(dward)
  A Shropshire Lad, no.21.

Lourd on my hert as winter lies The state that Scotland's in the day. Spring to the North has aye come slow But noo dour winter's like to stay For guid, And no'for guid!

-Grieve
  To Circumjack Cencrastus, or The Curly Snake.