LEARNER PAGE

A Hard Frost Cecil Day Lewis

A frost came in the night and stole my world

And left this changeling for it – a precocious

Image of spring, too brilliant to be true:

White lilac on the windowpane, each grass-blade

Furred like a catkin, maydrift loading the hedge.

The elms behind the house are elms no longer

But blossomers in crystal, stems of the mist

That hangs yet in the valley below, amorphous

As the blind tissue whence creation formed.

The sun looks out, and the fields blaze with diamonds.

Mockery spring, to lend this bridal gear

For a few hours to a raw country maid,

Then leave her all disconsolate with old fairings

Of aconite and snowdrop! No, not here

Amid this flounce and filigree of death

Is the real transformation scene in progress

But deep below where frost

Worrying the stiff clods unclenches their

Grip on the seed and lets our future breathe.

White lilac Catkins Mayflower

LEARNER PAGE
THE IMAGINED WORLD THE REAL WORLD

A magical spring The world covered in frost

Fields of diamonds (metaphor) The sun shining on the frost crystals on the grass

CONTEXTUAL QUESTIONS:
1. The poet begins the poem with a personification. Explain this personification. (2)
2. Suggest why the poet has used the word “changeling” in the first personification.
(2)
3. Why is it significant that the poet has used flowers in his description of scene he is
viewing? (2)
4. What is the meaning of the word “precocious” and how does it apply in the context of the
poem? (2)
5. Explain the last three lines of the first stanza and compare this to the last three lines of
the second stanza. (4)
6. In your opinion is the personification of the raw country maid as a bride effective?
Substantiate your answer. (3)
7. There is a distinct change in tone in the poem. Describe the change in tone. (2)
8. Suggest, with valid reasoning related to the poem, why the poet entitled the poem, “A
Hard Frost”. (2)
9. What is the message the poet is conveying about transformation? Refer to the text in
your answer (3)
10. Do you consider this is a message which could be applied, beyond the context of the
poem, to life? Explain your answer (3)
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ESSAY QUESTION:

“A Hard Frost” by Cecil Day Lewis speaks of the difference between illusion and reality.
With reference to the diction and imagery used in the poem explain how the illusion and the
reality have been created.
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