The Snow Man

To me winter is the best time of the year; I have a fantasy of living in the harsh winters of Alaska. So clearly when leafing through the new semester’s packet of poem my eyes made a b line for The Snow Man. I really enjoyed and all of the visuals, even though the first time I read through it I was left confused.

“One must have the mind of winter”

Looking at the years Stevens lived I noticed he lived during a time period in America that many think is innocent. When we think of the 1879-1955 we think of house wives and children happy to get to watch one TV show or to have a slice of pie. When you think of the early 1900’ you imagine large dinners and festive holidays, complete with roasting chestnuts, ice skating, and lots of innocent winter activates. Then I thought maybe he could mean that having the mind of winter means a cold harsh mind. I kept reading on to find my answer.

“and not to think of any misery in the sound of the wind, in the sound of few leaves”

Stevens is telling us to not look at winter negatively. The snow man wouldn’t think about how cold he was he would appreciate the dancing sparkle of ice stuck to pine needles. It is fascinating that most would say winter is the most beautiful season, because it has no color, there is no life.

“For the listener who listens to the snow”

The listener is the snow man but could be Mother Nature. I could picture a lone snow man standing in a clearing in the forest. Now here’s where you really need to read closely.

“And, nothing himself, beholds nothing that is not there and nothing that is”

Did Stevens steal this from Yoda? After reading this a thousand times I came to the conclusions that the snow man owns nothing that is there and nothing that is not there. Just like winter there appears to be nothing there and that’s why we love it for nothing. Steven’s is asking us to mot beat his poem for the nothing that is not there, and the nothing that is.