What deep meaning does the poem ‘Dust of Snow’ carry in it? Long answer types questions
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 black crow is commonly a symbol of death and fear.
Since the crow is not associated with goodness, it is ironic that in this poem, it is doing a good deed by shaking off the snow.
Robert Frost didn’t choose to use an oak, maple or pine tree. No, instead he chose the hemlock tree which is usually associated with poison and toxicity. Anyway, the beautiful snow that adorns the poisonous hemlock tree’s branches is shaken off by a scary crow.
Robert Frost uses the elements of the fearsome crow and poisonous Hemlock tree to do something good – shake the white, pure snow off the branches. This good act lifts the suicidal person’s spirits causing him to change his mind about killing himself. The small act causes the man to have an enlightened insight.
We have a poisonous Hemlock tree covered in pure, white snow and a man who is depressed, planning to kill himself and walking under the tree. At that precise moment, the black crow of death shakes the pure, good snow onto the man. All that goodness helps the man to change his mind about killing himself. Instead, he decides to live, forget the regret and sorrow to enable healing.
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:
Hope is one of the themes in this poem. The speaker happily and quickly decides that the day is saved because of the dust of snow that falls on him. He no longer thinks the day is wasted and instead has a hope that the day can be salvaged (saved). Another theme of this poem revolves around the positive perspective. The speaker’s perspective is changed by a small event. Perhaps the poem implies that we can either think positively or negatively about the events depending on our perspectives and points of view. However, we should adopt the speaker’s outlook and maintain a positive perspective on life in general.