The Snow Man
by Wallace Stevens (1879-1955)
The Snow Man
One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;
And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter
Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,
Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place
For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.
The Snow Man
One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;
And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter
Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,
Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place
For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.
Pharaphrase
In the remarkable poem "The Snow Man," Stevens dramatizes the action of a mind as it becomes one with the scene it perceives, and at that instant, the mind having ceased to bring something of itself to the scene, the scene then ceases to exist fully. We, with the "one" of the poem, begin by watching the winter scene while in our mind the connotations of misery and cold brought forth by the scene are stirring.
But gradually, almost imperceptibly, we are divested of whatever it is that distinguishes us from the snow man. We become the snow man, and we see the winter world through his eyes of coal, and we know the cold without the thoughts of human discomfort.
To perceive the winter scene truly, we must have the mind of the snow man, until correspondence becomes identification. Then we see with the sharpest eye the images of winter: "pine-trees crusted with snow," "junipers shagged with ice," "spruces rough in the distant
glitter/ Of the January sun." We hear with the acutest ear the cold sibilants evoking the sense of barrenness and monotony: "sound of the wind," "sound of a few leaves," "sound of the land," "same wind," "same bare place," "For the listener, who listens in the snow."
In the remarkable poem "The Snow Man," Stevens dramatizes the action of a mind as it becomes one with the scene it perceives, and at that instant, the mind having ceased to bring something of itself to the scene, the scene then ceases to exist fully. We, with the "one" of the poem, begin by watching the winter scene while in our mind the connotations of misery and cold brought forth by the scene are stirring.
But gradually, almost imperceptibly, we are divested of whatever it is that distinguishes us from the snow man. We become the snow man, and we see the winter world through his eyes of coal, and we know the cold without the thoughts of human discomfort.
To perceive the winter scene truly, we must have the mind of the snow man, until correspondence becomes identification. Then we see with the sharpest eye the images of winter: "pine-trees crusted with snow," "junipers shagged with ice," "spruces rough in the distant
glitter/ Of the January sun." We hear with the acutest ear the cold sibilants evoking the sense of barrenness and monotony: "sound of the wind," "sound of a few leaves," "sound of the land," "same wind," "same bare place," "For the listener, who listens in the snow."
The "one" with whom the reader has identified himself has now become "the listener, who listens in the snow"; he has become the snow man, and he knows winter with a mind of winter, knows it in its strictest reality, stripped of all imagination and human feeling. But at that point when he sees the winter scene reduced to absolute fact, as the object not of the mind, but of the perfect perceptual eye that sees "nothing that is not there," then the scene, devoid of its imaginative
correspondences, has become "the nothing that is."
correspondences, has become "the nothing that is."
Psycological Analysis
Psychology analysis is one of criticism which concern with the psychology of the author to express feeling, idea, and life experience. The good psychoanalysis poem is how the author can show the effect of psychology through art and lifelike. Beside appearing those terms author should also tell how far the contribution of the characters are.
Psychological analysis is actually refers to consciousness and unconsciousness of the author when he write master piece. But in this analysis I wouldn’t talk about those terms because it’s very difficult to be analyzed if we didn’t know directly from the author. So, in this discussion I prefer to choose some approach in criticizing this poem (Snow Man).
Basically, there are three approaches in psychological analysis. First, textual approach, it deals with the psychological aspect of narrator in the poem. Second, receptive-pragmatic approach, it discuss about psychology of reader as devotee of literature and process on how the literature effect their mind. Third, expressive approach, it deals with psychology aspect of author through creative process when he/she compose master piece.
I tend to use the third one as my analysis. That is expressive approach which deals with psychology aspect of author through creative process when he/she compose master piece. This poem is actually to give the strong feeling about the snow. It refers to change reader’s mind about the snow. The author really feel his psycology when he create this poem. He reaaly want to tell the readers that snow is not always good as common readers think about. Most of the readers especially for those who didn’t feel the fact how hard the snow on the winter is may feel that it will be very interesting sight to see. But for those who have been felt the winter every year may think that it’s very hard. We have to prepare many things, such as warm coat, food, etc.
Very nice analysis
BalasHapus