Dust of Snow is only eight lines long and seems to be the simplest of short poems written by Robert Frost. This video will help you analyze the poem in-depth and also helps you understand from the exam point of view.
The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.
ROBERT FROST
Introduction of Poet:
Robert Lee Frost was an American poet who was know for his realistic depiction of rural life in his literary work. The poem Dust of snow was first published in the year 1923 in the book 'New Hampshire'.
Summary and explanation of Dust of Snow:
The poem Dust of snow is little poem which has remained popular because it connects two fundamentals, that is; human though complexity and animal simplicity in such a convenient way. The poem is straightforward and simple to learn but has very deep meaning when analyzed.
The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
The first stanza tell us that there is a man under a tree and its probably winter as there is some snow on the tree and the tree is hemlock tree, which is evergreen pine tree and it is poisonous. A crow happens to send some snow particle or snow dust on the man. The reader here are left to imagine the crow's specific action. The crow maybe shivering, because the actual word SHOOK is being used in the first stanza, or maybe the crow is preening (Cleaning it feathers), shaking, flying off, landing or maybe its readjusting its feet on the hemlock tree. Nevertheless, this caused light dusting of snow which lands on speaker. In the first stanza the speaker sets the scene but also leaves a little bit of guess work about crow's movement to shake down the dust of snow on speaker. The first stanza flows into second Stanza which is the more intimate part of the poem.
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.
In the second stanza, the speaker begins to feel the change in the mood. Traditionally the presence of crow indicates sadness, despair, doom and fear, but surprisingly the same crow becomes catalyst for the positive mood change. The speaker due to falling of dust snow becomes partially relived and his day got, just whole lot better. This event some how allowed him to see the life from different perspective.
Frost has wonderfully penned the shift of emotions in second stanza with the two important words, that is RUED which means to regret about something, which often cannot be undone and SAVED which means rescued or keep safe. This two words illustrates the power that nature has on human being.
Themes of the poem Dust of Snow:
# Positive communication between nature and humans
# Nature helping the human to heal the negative emotions
# The significance of small events that changes the entire human perspective
The message of the poem:
* Insignificant natural events do bring changes
* Nature can benefit anyone with very less effort positively
Literary Devices:
Rhyming Scheme:
The way a crow - A
Shook down on me - B
The dust of snow - A
From a hemlock tree - B
Has given my heart - C
A change of mood - D
And saved some part - C
Of a day I had rued. - D
Alliteration:
The occurrence of same letter at the beginning of closely connected words in a line
Has given my Heart
And Saved Some part
Assonance:
Two or more words, close to one another repeat the same vowel sound but starts with different consonant sounds.
Shook down on me
Enjambment:
Continuation of the sentence or thoughts into next line without the punctuation mark.
The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree.
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.
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