snowdrop

the text of the poem is on page 40 of your books

some introductory thoughts on what the poem is about

• This is a tiny gem of a poem which confronts us with an uncompromising vision of a snowdrop as a winter phenomenon, rather than a flower which traditionally provides a comforting thought in cold days.

• It's easy to see the brevity and compact form of this poem as embodying some of the snowdrop's most characteristic features.  Key to the poem is the idea of shrunken and contracted forms in the coldest days of winter.  The first line of the poem, with its monosyllables, seems to sum up the stark truth of winter weather with its frozen ground and lack of growth. 

• The word 'globe' primarily denotes the planet, but in this context the word might possibly evoke the globe-form of the snowdrop's bulb, nestling beneath the surface of the soil through the coldest days of winter.  

• Notice the monosyllabic 'coldness' of the phrase 'shrunk tight' - two monosyllables in a row jolt the line, perhaps evoking the immobile freeze of winter.

• Like the globe, the mouse in winter is curled up, 'dulled' (though, importantly, mice don't hibernate), so you might imagine it asleep somewhere warm on a winter's night.

• Creatures which are out and about in the frosty weather are 'as if moulded in brass' - brass being both hard and cold to the touch.  The imagery here suggests the hardness of frozen winter ground.  

• But the imagery isn't limited to the surface of the ground - what makes this poem interesting is the way that a more cosmic vision is suggested - through the phrase 'outer darkness', suggesting the vastness of space, or some sort of cosmic zone.  Obviously the weasel and crow of the poem are not in orbit, but the mysterious phrase opens up the idea of some sort of cosmic significance, perhaps suggesting the inevitable re-birth which will come around with the circling of the planet and the return of spring?  It's certainly not a comforting vision, but it seems to acknowledge the primal forces of renewal which operate in the world of nature.

• There's a chilling reference to 'the other deaths' - maybe these are those of winter in which so much appears to be dead at worst, and dormant at best?

• 'She' has to be the snowdrop.  The word 'too' is all-important, as it links the snowdrop to the other natural life featured in the poem.  The delicate beauty of the flower, so much a comfort to the conventional viewer, is for Hughes 'brutal', a force of nature linked in cosmic union with other life, governed by the astrological fixtures of this dark season, the 'stars of this month'.

• It's interesting that, like the weasel and the crow (reduced to brass by winter), the snowdrop is given a metallic reference in the simile 'heavy as metal' (notice the syllabic contrast with the word 'petal', a feature of the snowdrop which Hughes chooses not to describe).  The snowdrop survives in the hardest conditions, and it is this surprising ability of a tiny delicate flower to maintain life in the depths of winter that Hughes chooses to emphasise.

• This is a puzzling poem, and as such is typical of Hughes's briefer poems from this period, when the reader has to reason through what is being presented.  What is clear, though, is evidence of Hughes's refusal to 'prettify' nature in writing about flowers, and this, perhaps, is what most makes this poem special.

some questions to consider

• What do you think about this poem?  What do you like about it?

• Which of the poems listed below do you like best?  Which of these poems is the most dissimilar to the Hughes poem, and why?

• If your mother-tongue is not English, look up some poems on the topic of winter in your home language - how similar to Hughes's poem are they?  And how different?

some creative writing to help you understand the poem more deeply

• Why not try writing your own poem describing an aspect of winter.  How would you go about this?  Will you be influenced by Hughes in what you write, or will you go for a more comforting picture of the beauty of the season?

some other lovely poems in English about winter and snowdrops

• Orcop * by Anne Stevenson 

• The Silver Lily * by Louise Glück

An excellent analysis of the poem * by Dr Oliver Tearle, a literary critic and lecturer in English at Loughborough University, England.

An interesting journalistic article * on the poem by Steve Whitaker, writing in the Yorkshire Times.

photo

A snowdrop from Transylvania - photo by Gabriella Oprea-Benkö.