Elizabeth Daryush, the English poetess, was the daughter of British poet laureate   Robert Bridges. She was a product of the sophisticated Victorian and Edwardian England. She employs the traditional verse style, and her themes pertain to the refined and elite classes, and the injustice they caused to other classes. She is best known for her experiments with syllabic meter. Finlay noted, “For her. . .poetry always dealt with the `stubborn fact’ of life as it is, and the only consolations it offered were those of understanding and a kind of half- Christian, half-stoical acceptance of the inevitable.” However, he also argued that Daryush’s best poems transcend such fatalism, “dealing with the moral resources found in one’s own being. . .and a recognition of the beauties in the immediate, ordinary world around us.”

The phrase “children of wealth” signifies two meanings. The word ‘wealth’ may qualify the word ‘children’ as an adjective. Further, it may also imply that they were the children of their parents. The word ‘wealth’ is substituted for parents here. Therefore, it suggests their artificial upbringing with all amenities that wealth could buy. It is far from human touch. The poetess emphasizes in this aspect yt gain with the phrase that they are guided by the warmth of their nursery, and not by maternal warmth. And yet though they lack genuine parental protection, their excessive refinement owes them superficial protection that is detrimental to them. They are instructed and guided most of the time probably by a governess, who continues to perform her duty out of obligation and not out of love.

Endowed with all the material comforts of life, these children are cushion-seated near the window .They watch the volleying snow through the double-paned glass that is predetermined for their safety. Therefore they are ‘invisibly guarded’. Though their parents are not near them to guide them, the parents have evolved preset solutions. Through this window, no touch penetrates ‘untimely’. Here ‘untimely’ refers to their parents’ permission. The lack of ‘touch’ again connotes the lack of human touch in their life. This window is not any ordinary window; it is also their window to the world. However, the over protectiveness is disadvantageous to them, as it disables them from learning through trial-and-error. Their protection from ‘untimeliness’ also handicap them wit hhe lack of presence of mind. They can never comprehend the true meaning of winter-its cruel realities. Here winter stand as a metaphor of the ‘hurdles’ of life. They are only acquainted with e sound and sight of it, as watching it on a visual medium. They are from the human side of it, and of course, knowledge. Indeed, experience is the greatest teacher. Winter may also stand for ‘failures’ here. The poetess seems to assert here that what our failures teach us, our successes can never can.

The poem in the second-person narrative acts as a command to the children. It orders them to go to elemental wrong, and start worldly lessons from the scratch. She entreats them to tire their too round limb to exercise, and tan their too fair skin. Their comfort is like a glass that is too transparent. It is like a bubble that may burst (break) at any moment. Ignorance is made synonymous with comfort here, because both do not teach us the ways of the world; both are divorced from stark experience. They may feel that this luxury is a protective shell to them, and it is too strong to be true. However, this very night:

 

You’ll wake to horror’s wrecking fire ­your home