dust of snow summary
Answers
The poet is upset and sitting under the hemlock tree. Suddenly a crow sitting on the tree shakes the tree and the fine particles of snow from tree falls on the poet. The soft and cold touch of snow changes the poet’s mood from sad to happy. He starts feeling soothed and refresh. In this way a simple moment proves to be very significant and saves rest of the day of poet from being wasted and held in regret.
The poem, Dust of Snow by Robert Frost, reiterates that the little things in life can make huge changes in our future. It also shows that if we can take the hard times of life in stride, eventually something will happen to change our situation into happier times. The simple things we do for others can make all the difference. Just think about those random acts of kindness we do and how much they brighten a person’s day and sometimes change their future.
Noticing and appreciating all the small things in life will make our life happier. It will also cause us to have a spirit that is willing to change and therefore succeed.
Answer:
STANZA 1
In the first stanza, the poet says that one day, he was on the way which means that he was outside, roaming around in the open. Suddenly in the winter season, a crow shook on him the dust of snow from a hemlock tree.
Here we have three important things which have a great significance in society. First, there is a crow which is black and often considered as the symbol of death, doom and ill-omen. Also, the crow shook snow on the poet and not threw. Thus it is obvious that the crow was shivering with the chilly cold – again a symbol of doom.
Finally, we have a hemlock tree. Hemlock is a poisonous tree which was used to Socrates to commit suicide. Thus this image is also the symbol of bad-luck or doom.
The poet here cleverly uses all these images to show that his day was quite bad and waste. He was stuck among ample of ill-omens which would have ruined his remaining day as well. But the stanza ends leaving the reader in thoughts about the worst which might occur soon as the poet is seeing so many bad-omens at the same time.
One important thing worth noticing is that the whole poem is written in a single sentence. Though the stanza ends in the 4th line, the sentence has not ended which indicates the continuity of mood.
Stanza 2
In the previous stanza, we had guessed that something bad will happen in the final stanza. But all the three things (which are the signs of ill-omens) have rather a good effect on the poet. The poet says that the crow, the dust of snow and the hemlock tree have given a change of mood to his heart.
Ironically, the poet feels good when the dust of snow (which is quite light-weight) falls on him and he feels that some part of the day which was wasted was saved. He is feeling good now.
The poem thus gives us the message that one should never become hopeless and sorrowful when he faces a problem. A person can get relief and inspiration even in the worst situation.