Dust of Snow
By
Robert Frost
Synopsis: To quote Robert Frost, ‘Always, always a larger
significance… A little thing touches a larger thing.’’ The poem presents the
contrasting mood of the poet. The mood of regret has been associated with the
corresponding words like ‘hemlock tree’
and a ‘crow’. On the other hand, the
poet experiences a switch in his mood when the crow from the top of the hemlock
tree drops a dust of snow on him. He immediately feels relaxed and his mood
undergoes a transformation from the state of regret to that of relaxation. The
image of snow here has a tranquilizing effect on the poet. Therefore, the touch
of a dust of snow has helped him come out of the state of regret and helped him
enter the refreshing mode of joyfulness.
Q1. What is a “dust of snow”? What does the poet say has changed his mood?
How has the poet’s mood changed?
Ans: A dust of snow refers to ‘particles of snow’. The poet says that a dust
of snow being dropped by a crow from the top of the hemlock tree has changed
his mood.
The poet was sitting under the hemlock tree in a state of regret.
Suddenly a dust of snow, which fell over his body, brought about a change in
his mood.
Q2. How does Frost present
nature in this poem?
Ans: Frost has presented a crow and hemlock tree from nature and associated
these two with his mood of regret. Crow and hemlock tree respectively symbolize
sorrow. So the poet used the two images to match with his mood of regret. The
poet, on the other hand, has also made use of ‘dust of snow’ from nature to represent state of joyfulness.
Q3. What do the ‘crow’ and
‘hemlock’ represent − joy or sorrow? What does the dust of snow that the crow
shakes off a hemlock tree stand for?
The ‘Crow’ and ‘hemlock’ represent the state of sorrowfulness. The dust
of snow that the crow shakes off a hemlock tree represents the state of
joyfulness. Here to show the contrast of his mood the poet has used the
contrasting images.
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