Sound and Sense 115-116

Incident

:What accounts for the effectiveness of the last stanza? Comment on the title. Is it in key with the meaning of the poem?

The last stanza shows how much the speaker is frustrated after hearing the demeaning word from a guy who is similar in his age and size. He said, “I saw the whole of Baltimore” in line 9. It describes that he views the whole Baltimore as a racist city after getting insulted. Before the speaker experienced this incident, he seems to be a friendly and naïve boy as it says in line 7 “And so I smiled”. The incident changed the boy’s view of other people and he labeled the whole city to be racist.

"The Snow Man" break down

1. read it through
2. bough=a branch of a tree
Juniper=any of numerous shrubs or trees
Shagged=to make rough
3. The speaker can be any man who is talking in the winter trying to convey an idea.
4. The speaker is looking at shrubs glazed with ice, which looks shine but it is rough on the surface when a person touches it. The place takes in anywhere that shrub exist. It is a cold winter in the early 1900s.
5. The tone is bright but depressed at the same time. The author realizes that in life, many things seem to be great like the shining ices on shrubs. However, the reality is challenging and tough like the hard surface of the ice.
6. In the line 6, the author says, “The spruces rough in the distant glitter”. This line puts a musicality in the poem. When reading this line, a reader tends to draw into the poem. Snow is used as a tool to describe the theme
7. Theme is that many events in the world are described and shown in good ways, however, when it comes to a reality it isn’t always like that but touch and stressful.
8. The author uses “of” to start with a line for several times giving some musicality. Also in the line 10, he says “Which is the sound of the land”. The word ‘sound’ and ‘land’ gives another musicality.