This document provides an analysis of the poem "Dust of Snow" by Robert Frost. It examines the structural elements of the poem, including that it is written from the first-person perspective of the narrator. It also analyzes the themes of the poem, noting that it depicts how a small natural event, such as snow falling from a tree, can significantly impact a person's mood and outlook. The document also discusses the poetic devices used in the poem, such as rhyme and symbolism.

1. CBSE-NCERT BOOK- FIRST FLIGHT
POETRY : CLASS -X
“Dust of Snow”
- Robert Frost
MUSHIKA RAJU
PGT ENGLISH

2. A Study of Poem
Structural Study
• Poet and speaker
• Who is the narrator /speaker?
• Participant or non-participant narrator
• What kind of narration? (1st, 2nd, or 3rd)
• Voice of the speaker
• Tone of the speaker
• Mode of the speaker
• Place and time of the poem (social,
political, economic setting)
• Subjective or objective poem
• To whom is it addressing?
• Meter: Rhyme scheme, Rhythm, Figures
of speech (techniques of language)
Thematic study
• Subject matter :
• Day to day situations in the human
life, a communication between
nature and humans in general.
• In specific, nature healing and
helping with negative human
emotions.
• The significance of small natural
events.
• changing poet’s mind from:
• depressed to cheerful
• hopeless to optimistic
• sad to happy
• It tells us that sometimes even a
small incident may prove to be of a
larger significance.

3. Poet: Robert Frost (1874 – 963)
• He was a famous American poet.
• Known for his realistic depictions of rural life
in New England in the early twentieth century.
• His poetical works A Boy’s Will, North of
Boston, New Hampshire, A Further Range
Steeple Bush and In the Clearing increased his
fame and honour.
• The poem ‘Dust of Snow’ was published in
New Hampshire (1923). This collection gave
him the Pulitzer Prize.

4. RHYME
• It is a repetition of similar sounding words, occurring at the end of lines in
poems or songs.
• End Rhymes occur at the end of a verse line.
• Internal Rhymes occur within a verse-line.
In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud,
It perched for vespers nine-,
Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white,
Glimmered the white moon-shine.
• Eye- Rhymes: the words whose endings are spelled alike, and in most instances
were once pronounced alike, but have in the course of time acquired a different
pronunciation: prove-love, daughter-laughter.
• Masculine Rhyme consists of a single stressed syllable. (still-hill, bóre-móre)
• Feminine rhyme consists of a stressed syllable followed by unstressed syllable.

5. Robert Frost’s Dust of Snow
The way / a crow /kroʊ/ a
/ʃʊk/ Shook down / on me /mi:/ b
The dust / of snow /snəʊ/ a
/ˈhem.lɒk/ From a hemlock tree /triː/ b
Has given my heart /hɑːt/ a
A change / of mood /muːd/ b
And saved / some part /pɑːt/ a
Of a day /I had rued. /ruːd/ b
(rued: held in regret)

6. Iambic Dimeter and Anapest
• The first stanza has three lines of iambic dimeter, four syllables,
except the fourth line which has an anapest (two unstressed – one
stressed). This opening anapest is balanced by the anapest of line
five in the second stanza.
• From a hem / lock tree....Has giv / en my heart (5 syllables in both
lines)
• The second stanza reverts to iambic dimeter in lines 6 and 7 before
ending with a double anapest, six syllables, in the final line.
• This overall rising rhythm denotes an optimistic tone to the poem.

7. Iambic Foot: Feminine & Masculine
• There are many variations upon the basic iambic foot; these are sometimes
called "substitutions." They are,
• Feminine Ending is a line of verse that ends with an unstressed syllable.
• Masculine Endings refers to a line ending in a stressed syllable.
• End-stopped Line: Look at the following extract from The Burnin Babe by Robert
Southwell is End-stopped Line.
As I in hoary winter's night stood shivering in the snow,
Surprised I was with sudden heat, which made my heart to glow;
And lifting up a fearful eye to view what fire was near,
A pretty babe all burning bright did in the air appear.
• Run-on Lines or Enjambment look at the following extract from The Winter's
Tale by Shakespeare is heavily enjambed.
I am not prone to weeping, as our sex
Commonly are; the want of which vain dew
Perchance shall dry your pities; but I have
That honourable grief lodged here which burns
Worse than tears drown.

8. Poetic/Literary Devices
• The full rhyme endings are quite straight forward:
crow/snow....mood/rued....and me/tree….heart/part
• Alliteration: This consists in the repetition of the same letter or
syllable at the beginning of two or more words.
Has given my heart
And saved some part
• Symbolism: the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities
• Crow: a symbol of ill omen.
• Hemlock tree: associated with a person, is not auspicious
things.

9. Thematic Discussion of Poem:“Dust of Snow”
• on the surface the two stanzas appear to be nothing more than a
snapshot of a trivial event concerning a crow, a tree, snow and a
human being.
• it juxtaposes two fundamentals - human complexity and animal
simplicity - in such a compact and symbolic form.
• the poet was in a gloomy or despairing mood.
• The fall of snow over him changes his mood and mental state. It
gladdens his heart.
• If he had not experienced such a pleasant experience, he would
have regretted at the wastage of the whole day.