what is the central idea of the poem "The dust of snow"? for class10
Answers
On a winter’s day, the poet had been forced to step out of his house and walk around in order to accomplish some task or the other. He had been unable to complete his work and so he believed that that particular day would be going to waste. His mood had become sullen and despairing. Suddenly, as he was walking by a wooded area full of hemlock trees, a cow alighted on a branch of one of those trees, causing the mass of snowflakes atop it to rain down on the poet. The snowflakes were so light and miniscule that the poet thought they resembled dust particles more than anything else. However, this raining down of snowflakes upon him did not upset the poet further. In fact, quite the opposite happened. His mood immediately improved, and he was cheered up. He felt joy and thankfulness to be alive on such a beautiful day.
Dust of Snow’ is a small poem written by the famous American poet, Robert Frost. The poem is set on a wintry day. In the first stanza, the poet describes a simple natural happening. The snow is falling heavily. The snowy flakes have covered the top of the trees. The poet is standing under a hemlock tree. The movement and alighting of a crow on that tree, make the dust of snowfall on the poet. The crow, a symbol of ill omen and the hemlock tree, associated with a person, is not auspicious things. However, in the second stanza, the falling of snowflakes and the sceneleave a tremendous effect on the mental state and mood of the poet. So far, the day has been quite gloomy and wastage for him. But this ordinary natural happening suddenly brings the desired change in his mood. It gladdens his heart. He realises that the falling of snowflakes on him has saved the day. Now he has no regret as the whole of the day has not gone waste. The moments of the snowfall and their effect have saved the day. They have brought a change in his mood and gladdened and uplifted his spirits.