For whatever reason I’ve always held
a sort of fascination for snow –the fragile flakes that fall gently and come to
a peaceful slumber on the ground, the assaulting blizzards that burn the skin
of your face, the crunch of untouched snow under the weight of your boots.
Therefore, I was ecstatic to read a poem about winter. Wallace Stevens’ poem “The
Snow Man” was enthralling for me. The imagery was, of course, my favorite part,
considering I also have an irrational love for imagery, its descriptiveness and
beauty. The trees “crusted with snow”, the “junipers shagged with ice”: the
details like these just make me happy.
However, there is something
astounding about this poem that I love. It is so forlorn; the snow man is “nothing
himself” and beholds “nothing”. The repetition of “nothing” makes the reader
linger in some kind of limbo where everything is intangible. The snow man is
distant to the “glitter” at the end of the second stanza and Stevens
brilliantly uses a stanza break after this word to emphasize said distance
before giving the reader the image of the sun, the only warmth in the piece. It
is a miserable and frigid poem, and yet filled with beauty. A stand out of the
week for me.
I love how, like you said, this poem is filled with beauty even though the picture it paints is so cold. I like how you pointed out that the only instance of warmth is the mention of the sun. I never noticed that before. The poem does such a good job of making a harsh, wintry scene almost sound warm in a way, even without the mention of the sun.
ReplyDeleteWhat makes the imagery in the poem so effective, do you think? what choices on the page?
ReplyDeleteI love how you are so enthralled with this poem. I really enjoyed it too, but the way you described it made me want to read it again. I agree that the imagery almost transports us to a time when it is, in fact, winter and we want to be consumed by it. Even though it has negative connotations you just can't help to be entranced by it because it is written so beautifully.
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