Dusts Of Snow By Robert Frost

Analysis:

“Dusts of Snow” is a simple and beautiful poem by Robert Frost. The poet regretted the better part of the day for reasons known only to him. Naturally he was quite sad and unhappy.

It was then, a crow shook off the dusts of snow, from its feathers sitting on hemlock tree.

We have very few images in this short poem, namely “the man”, “the crow”, “the hemlock tree”, and “the dusts of snow”.

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Naturally it is the season of winter. A crow is perching on an ever green pine called the hemlock tree and the poet stands under the tree. The crow is shaking off the snow from its wings. It too might have been very cold and wanted to save itself from the biting cold.

The tree on which the crow rests is hemlock. It is quite a majestic and beautiful tree native to America . In some pagan religions hemlock tree is associated with protection and healing.

Do not confuse hemlock tree with hemlock plant which is poisonous and grows only three to five feats. Greek philosopher Socrates, when condemned to die took hemlock drink.

Robert frost has a habit of bringing in various aspects of nature and especially trees and woods into his poems, like birches, apple trees, pines, fir tree etc.

The bird crow, is not usually associated with good tidings. Nor is it a beautiful bird. It is a harbinger of bad tidings, and even death. Why did the poet choose such a bird? Is it because of his mental state?. He was unhappy for some unexplained reason.

The snow is normally is a symbol of purity. But the crow, in such a cold winter has little reason to love the snow flakes on its body. But when the dusts of snow falls on the poet, his earlier mood changes. He becomes happy.

He might have been reminded of his childhood days, when he played in snow and swung on the birches. Here the nature, in the form of winter, hemlock, crow and snow, gives a fresh heart to the poet. Nature has a healing power.

The poem is written in two stanzas of four lines each. The rhyme scheme of the poem is abab cdcd.

The metre of the poem is iambic dimetre, though there are two lines of anapaestic feet (“From a hem/ lock tree” and “Has giv/en my heart”).

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The Sacred Turtles of Kandavu