In his classic poem which pretty much everyone knows by heart, Edgar Allan Poe writes as follows:
Ah, distinctly I remember
It was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember
Wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Why?
"... a bleak December" would have sounded (or would it?) more logical: not all Decembers are bleak.
Or:
"This occurred in bleak December" would have scanned just as well.
What gives?
It seems to be an idiosyncrasy of Poe to use a definite article when there's an adjective preceding the month:
I came upon them suddenly in the leafy June, and threw myself upon the turf, beneath the branches of an unknown odorous shrub, that I might doze as I contemplated the scene.
To -- -- --. Ulalume: A Ballad
The skies they were ashen and sober;
The leaves they were crispéd and sere—
The leaves they were withering and sere;
It was night in the lonesome October
Of my most immemorial year;
In The Bridge of Sighs, there's no article, presumably because there's no adjective.
The bleak wind of March
Made her tremble and shiver;
I don't think there's any explanation beyond that, given that I've not seen this used elsewhere. (Edit: Now I have seen some examples, and I can't think of an explanation for why.)
