Winter solstice instant of the solstice can be calculated, direct observation of the solstice by amateurs is impossible because the sun moves too slowly or appears to stand still (the meaning of "solstice"). However, by use of astronomical data tracking, the precise timing of its occurrence is now public knowledge. One cannot directly detect the precise instant of the solstice (by definition, one cannot observe that an object has stopped moving until one later observes that it has not moved further from the preceding spot, or that it has moved in the opposite direction). Further, to be precise to a single day,
Home After Three Months Away child. Although "Home After Three Months Away" is really about Lowell's struggle to recover from a mental breakdown, the narrative of the poem focuses on his relationship with his daughter, Harriet. He begins the poem by noting the absence of his daughter's former caretaker; then he describes his interactions with his daughter as he's bathing her. But by the end of the poem, he is focused on the subject of his fragile mental state which he compares to the flowers in the garden: "Bushed by the late spring snow,/ they cannot meet/ another year's snowballing enervation." Lowell concludes the poem