A Letter to God
Two poems by Robert Frost
Interpret two short poems by Robert Frost.
'Dust of Snow': a bad day saved. The poet is in a sad mood. A crow sitting on a hemlock tree shakes down a little dust of snow (fine bits of snow) onto him. This tiny moment changes his mood. It saves part of a day he had rued (regretted).
Why a crow and a hemlock? Poets usually choose a cuckoo or a nightingale and a pretty tree. Frost chooses:
- a crow, often seen as a bad sign;
- a hemlock, a poisonous tree.
Both suggest sorrow. Yet they bring the poet joy. Happiness can come from small, ordinary, even gloomy things.
Rhyme by ear. Listen to the last sounds of the lines: crow / snow, me / tree, heart / part, mood / rued. Each stanza is a b a b.
'Fire and Ice': how will the world end? Some say in fire, some in ice. Frost turns this into feelings:
- fire = desire: greed, lust, conflict, fury, the wanting that never ends (a bicycle, then a scooter, then a bike, then a car…);
- ice = hatred: cruelty, intolerance, coldness, indifference (not caring at all).
Either one, he says, 'would suffice' (be enough) to destroy the world.
Rhyme scheme. The poem is one stanza of nine lines: fire / ice / desire / fire / twice / hate / ice / great / suffice, which is a b a a b c b c b. The short last line lands on 'suffice' like a full stop.
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