Class X

Dust of Snow
- Robert Frost

Dear Students,
Let us recapitulate what we have learnt in our Virtual Class. Here are a few points to
remember.

 The poet, here, has been sitting under a hemlock tree.

 His mind is filled with gloom and suicidal thoughts.
 Suddenly a shower of pure white snowflakes falls on him as the snowladen bough shakes
when a crow in the tree flaps its wings.
 He experiences a change in mood.
 His spirits are lifted and he feels happy that he would not have to regret spending the rest
of the day in such a dark mood.
 Note the irony in the poet's use of a crow. The crow which is traditionally a symbol of
ill-omen or even death, becomes a harbinger of hope and positivity in this poem.
 The poem thus highlights how an unexpected experience in an epiphanic moment ushers
in a sea change in one’s life.
Practice Exercise (Self -Assessment. The evaluator shall provide you with the Key after you
mail the answers)
1. Choose the correct option.
a) The 'crow' in this poem acts almost inadvertently as
I) an agent of death
II) an ill- omen
III) an agent of change for the better

b) The reference to the white snowflakes is apt here as white represents

I) shroud
II) colourlessness
III) hope and positivity

c) The image of the hemlock tree is brought in to suggest the idea of self-destruction in the
first stanza as
I) the hemlock is a poisonous plant.
II) the hemlock looks happy and beautiful with small white flowers
 III) the hemlock tree affords the poet a place beneath which he can
sit and ruminate.
d) The snowflakes cascading down on the poet suddenly lifts him from
I) indolence
II) tiredness
III) depression and suicidal thoughts

Assignment (Mail the answers to your Evaluator)

Answer each of the questions in 30 – 40 words.
a) Describe the transition in the poet's mood in the poem Dust of Snow.
b) Explain the irony in the poet's use of the image of the crow in the poem Dust of Snow.