Why does 'wind and snow, represent in the poem any women
Answers
I interpreted this poem as a very sad one. A love unrequited by the pursued. In the first two lines the poem tells you to forget about the love you share and hear a tale of this. Not to literally forget, but possibly put aside. The man is a winter breeze, cold and rough and sort of roams the land. The woman is a window flower, shut off from the outside. This sets up the separation.
They can "see" each other and are kept apart by a glass wall. She has all the comforts of the outside, the warmth of the sun and even the company of a "caged yellow bird" (7) hanging above her. It is almost that the mention of this bird being caged above her is a symbol of this The man notices her, he couldn't help but notice her. Who knows how many windows he has breezed by with flowers in them and kept on moving. For some reason, probably due to the beauty of this particular flower, he had to return to see her. The man knew nothing of love. He was " concerned with ice and snow, dead weeds and unmated birds, and little of love could know" (14-16). This gives an example of what the breeze was experienced to in his life.
We then see the wind's attempt to win her, "But he sighed upon the sill, He gave the sash a shake" (17-18). This was not a direct approach. The sash may have been the "testing of the water" to see where he stood by questioning her peers. This was done in full view of her though. He was not very subtle about it either. The people close to the woman knew very well what was occurring, "As witness all within, Who lay that night awake" (19-20). These were people in the "house" that were following this courting, laying awake that night was watching and listening.