Does the season or time of year influence our productivity? Poets are meant to be a brooding lot who ferment verse out of their restlessness and discontent. This is meant to be the worst time of year for depression, so should it not be the best time for versifying?

Only if you want a load of miserable poems I guess! ;-)

But do gloomy thoughts always result in 'down' poetry? Some people's response is to 'rise above it' and make an attempt to create something beautiful or funny to dispel the mood.

Who would that be then? I tend to give in to misery - I don't always write a poem about it - normally try to sleep it off. I don't go writing poems about juggling though.

It would be interesting to correlate the cheerfulness of poems with the weather. Maybe someone has had a go.

Since 'tupperware' skies trigger depression in many, I've no doubt where you are going with that one Dave. It is a curious thing to be at rock bottom in a place where the sky is always blue and the sun shines every day, which has happened to me.
Weather only accentuates what you are actually feeling inside. Sort that out and it has no effect on your poetry. Come the good weather though - I think most of us Brits are out there lapping it up - we don't see enough of it to be wasting time writing poetry.

Hmmm, but what about the 'I wandered lonely as a cloud' syndrome, where you go for a lovely walk, come home and have the urge to turn it into words? If the weather is grey, damp and cold, that doesn't happen does it.

Isn't today meant to be statistically the most miserable day of the year? A concatenation of dismal weather, post-xmas blues, broken resolutions and distance to pay day...apparently.

I can feel a poem coming on.

:-)

Jx

No, today is lovely! The sun is shining! The birds are singing! Yippee!