Weekly blog assignment 2

The Snow-storm” by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Announced by all the trumpets of the sky,

Arrives the snow, and, driving o'er the fields,

Seems nowhere to alight: the whited air

Hides hills and woods, the river, and the heaven,

And veils the farm-house at the garden's end.

The sled and traveller stopped, the courier's feet

Delayed, all friends shut out, the housemates sit

Around the radiant fireplace, enclosed

In a tumultuous privacy of storm.

Come see the north wind's masonry.

Out of an unseen quarry evermore

Furnished with tile, the fierce artificer

Curves his white bastions with projected roof

Round every windward stake, or tree, or door.

Speeding, the myriad-handed, his wild work

So fanciful, so savage, nought cares he

For number or proportion. Mockingly,

On coop or kennel he hangs Parian wreaths;

A swan-like form invests the hidden thorn;

Fills up the farmer's lane from wall to wall,

Maugre the farmer's sighs; and, at the gate,

A tapering turret overtops the work.

And when his hours are numbered, and the world

Is all his own, retiring, as he were not,

Leaves, when the sun appears, astonished Art

To mimic in slow structures, stone by stone,

Built in an age, the mad wind's night-work,

The frolic architecture of the snow. 

The Snow-Storm is a much descriptive poem about the power and beauty of nature, specifically the nature of the season of winter. The text of the poem gives a very detail description of a snow storm from a perspective of admiration in which it is view as art, but not only art but also a great force of nature.  In the very first line of “ The Snow-Storm” the poem sets and tone of a powerful outlook all most like royalty where it describes the snows arrivals but saying “Announced by all the trumpets in the sky” such as a king of queen enter the atmosphere. This line states and sets the admiration and praise perspective. It follows by giving description of color dominance as it states the things that are no longer visible because of it by saying “Seems nowhere to alight: the whited air hides hills and woods, the river, and the heaven”. This shows the total dominance of all other things by a complete white out of everything in sight because of the storm.

            The poem gives a description of cause and effect describing the cancellation of everything on going because of the storm “And veils the farm-house at the garden's end. The sled and traveller stopped, the courier's feet Delayed”, and also showing that it caused people to find refuge in the home around a warm fire “all friends shut out, the housemates sit around the radiant fireplace, enclosed in a tumultuous privacy of storm”. The Snow-Storm continues to describes the nature of the winter taking its course without direction but with free will “Come see the north wind's masonry, Out of an unseen quarry evermore”. Then describing more objects such as roofs doors and trees as if they were Canvases for the white snow to cover in its art wild and freely. An effect that is also cause during the poem is the delay of the harvesting of crops during the winter  and storm where the text of the poem states “Filling the farmer’s lane from wall to wall” with snow causing the crops not to grow and thus cause the farmer to feel sadden “Maugre the farmer's sighs” the text states.

The Snow-Storm is written in the order of sequence so the end the poem focuses on the end of the storm describing the snow storm to only be temporary “And when his hours are numbered, and the world Is all his own, retiring, as he were not” slow showing the poem to be dying slowly and ending as if he was never there. Follow the end of the storm the sun appears to show or shed light on the snow that is remaining. The poem ends as it began focusing on the power and natural art of nature also setting a tone of “powerful yet smooth”.  The final lines of the poem “To mimic in slow structures, stone by stone, Built in an age, the mad wind's night-work, The frolic architecture of the snow” closes comparing the nature of winter as an architect stating an overnight process that was built slowly over time.  This really shows how the text and the author appreciated the beauty and art of the snow storm and the perspective of its natural beauty.