The Snow Man
"One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;
And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter
Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,
Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place
For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is."
7 opmerkingen:
"The poem The Snow Man by Wallace Stevens doesn’t make you think of a snow man when you first read it. I know when I first read it I thought it was someone standing out in the snow listening to nature in the winter time. But after you read it several times you finally understand the it is a snow man."
"After reading the poem one wonders who the
"snow man" is. I think it is a negative term of comparison; it is what
man cannot be, what a poet can surely never become. Much more is
suggested, if not discussed: the misery of human condition; the
natural, emotional bond between man and nature, the "emptiness
within" of the twentieth century man"
How was your day? Happy Ice-skating?
The weather wasn't that good...
My dear Redhead, there was a nice pub too.
"… When we think of a snowman, most of us visualize balls of snow placed on top of each other, coals for eyes, a carrot nose, and the like. I mention these details only to point out Stevens does not. His poem does not describe but merely invokes "The Snow Man" by mentioning him in the title; thereafter the snowman is involved in the poem only as a metaphor of a metaphor. He is a metaphor of a "mind of winter," and this, in turn, is a metaphor of something even more abstract: a mind that entertains nothingness. …”
het is gebruikelijk dat men als men schaatst recht op de ijzers staat, dit komt de balans ten goede.
Er zijn mannen die er de voorkeur aan geven scheef op de schaatsen te staan.
Wij plachten dit Olafisme te noemen.
Op dat laatste wil ik gaarne t.z.t. terugkomen: blijf mij volgen.
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