The Snow Man- Poetry Responce 9

First off, I picked this poem because I am freezing, and I judged it by its title, to be fitting of my mood. Then I read it, and realized that the poem was about winter. It was about how the snow man needs to think very highly of winter to view all the wonderful things that happen during it. This is poem explains how fully immersed in the scene the Snow Man is, that he gets to observe the nothingness of the environment, with out himself bringing anything to it. The later is the difficult part for me.

I followed Stevens very well while his figurative language described the scene vividly, but once the last stanza rolled around, I go lost.This stanza required the reader to read it several times! I interpreted it to mean this: in order to fully appreciate the winter scene and environment, we must bring nothing to the scene. Just like in the case of the snowman. He has no previous judgment, he is nothing. WE must be nothing to see the full nothing of the winter. Does that make sense? This poem reminds me of this time when I was skiing with my family. I was about 8 years old and I got lost-ish off the side of the run and my ski's popped out into the deep snow. I was frustrated and cold so I just sat in the deep snow in all my ski gear and took off my mittens and just looked around and ate snow. The image was almost exactly how Wallace Stevens describes winter, and the picture of "Winter" in my head, is the one I have from when I was young, not thinking, and just sitting in it.

This is a good winter poem to read while your cold :)

<3