Poems cancelled for the academic year 2020-21

 How to Tell Wild Animals

 Trees
 Fog
 For Anne Gregory

Poem 1 – Dust of Snow

1) Describe the scene of falling of the dust of snow. What impact does it have on
the poet?
It is a dull and depressive day of the winter. Snow has collected on the tree tops
and tree branches. Very few birds or any other creatures are venturing outdoors.
In such kind of a mood, the poet is feeling very low himself and takes a walk
outdoors. When he is walking below a hemlock tree, a crow sitting on the tree
shakes the branch, causing a spray of snow to fall on the poet. This small action
brightens up the poet’s mood and returns to him his lost cheer.

2) ‘The Crow’ and the ‘hemlock tree’ are generally considered to be inauspicious
and ominous symbols. Does the poet use them so?
Ans. ‘The Crow’ and ‘the hemlock tree’, no doubt, don’t represent cheerfulness or
brightness. Both of them are generally considered to be inauspicious. But ‘the
crow’ in the poem causes the dust of snowfall on the poet. This leads to the sudden
change of mood in the poet. The feeling of cheerfulness replaces the feeling of
regret. Similarly, the hemlock tree is the tree under which the poet is standing and
experiencing the change of his mood.

3) What is the message that Robert Frost wants to convey to the readers in the poem
‘Dust of snow’?
Robert Frost gives a positive message to the readers. Depression and
hopelessness do cloud our hearts, spirits and moods. However, there is a silver-
lining beyond every cloud. The poet had given up all hopes and declared that the
whole day would go waste. Suddenly, the falling of fine dust of snow on him brings
a sudden change in his mood. Cheerfulness replaces the feeling of regret.

4) Simple moment proves to be very significant and saves rest of the day of poet
from being wasted. Explain on the basis of the poem „Dust of Snow‟.

The poem ‘Dust of Snow’ is a short poem with a deep meaning – written by the poet
Robert Frost.
In this poem, the poet talks about how a small and seemingly insignificant event can
have a great impact on our mind. It can change the mood of a person, sometimes it
can be deep enough to change the life of a person.
In this poem setting, the poet talks of a day when he was in a sad and depressive
mood. He considered that his day was ruined due to that. But as he was walking down
a snow filled path, a crow sitting on a hemlock tree shakes himself and thus snow dust
falls on the poet. It is a very natural and insignificant event by itself. But it has a deep
impact on the poet. The way a crow shakes down dust of snow on the poet inspires
and gives him the idea to shake off his depressive thoughts, become cheerful and do
something useful. The poet’s mood changes with this one cheerful thought and saves
his day from getting wasted. Hence, this poem brings to us the fact that a simple
moment proves to be very significant and saves the rest of the day from being wasted.

5) The poet has succeeded in giving valuable information in a light-hearted manner.

What creates the desired effect? Highlight its importance in present-day life.
Truly, Frost has used simple language to drive home a very significant message,
that little thing sometimes, have a big impact. An easy, uncomplicated language,
coupled with unusual visual imagery and brevity of words creates the desired
effect. The poet’s bitterness finds reflection even in the environment around him.
The noisy, dark crow, the poisonous hemlock and the icy snow around—all are
essentially depressing images. However, despite the negativity, when the crow
shakes down the dust of snow onto the poet, it also shakes off some of the author’s
regretful thoughts. Today, when all of us live in stressful atmospheres, the poem
teaches us to gain happiness from little things.

6) Our attitude towards a situation evokes both negative and positive response.
Analyze this with reference to the poem, ‘Dust of Snow’ to bring out the inherent
valuable lessons.

Whatever situation life throws at us, it evokes both positive and negative
responses. The poet, in the poem ‘Dust of Snow,’ was in a sorrowful mood.
However, when a crow shook down the ‘dust of snow’ on him, his bitter mood
changed into a more optimistic one. Now, being in a sorrowful or bad mood
already, the poet could have got angry at the crow also. However, the dust of snow
becomes a positive medium of change for him. It made him cheerful to some
extent and helped him forget his sadness, at least for a few moments. Thus, we
see that instead of seeing the negative aspect of a happening, one should see the
positive aspect, and one’s response may greatly affect the outcome of incidents.

Poem 2 – Fire and Ice

1) What is the message of the poem ‘Fire and Ice’?

The metaphors of fire and ice are used to convey a very definite message. ‘Fire’ here
stands for our unbridled, uncontrolled passions and desires, fury and anger. This can
cause disasters amongst human beings. In a similar manner, cold reasoning devoid of all
 human warmth will cause hate to spread in the world. This hatred will lead to end of this
world.

2) What do people think about the end of the world? Who does the poet side with and why?
People believe that the world will end some day as everything that exists has to end. But
people are divided in their opinion over how the world will end. Some people believe that
‘fire’ which talks of desires and anger will end the world whereas the others believe that
‘ice’ which is indicative of jealousy, cold reasoning and indifference will be the cause of
the end of the world. The poet sides with the ones who believe that the world will end in
fire.

3) What will be the cause of the end of the world if it has to perish twice?
Everyone knows that the world is not eternal and will perish some day. The poet like one
set of people believes that world will perish due to fire – that is anger and greed and
voraciousness. But if the world has to perish the second time over, the poet feels that ice
– a sense of cold hatred, jealousy and indifference will be the sufficient reason to cause
a second destruction.

4) There are many ideas about how this world will come to an ‘end’. What are they? Do you
agree with the poet and his understanding of the poet and his understanding of the issue
in this regard?

Ans: Almost all think that this world will end at one time or the other. It is true that
everything that has a beginning or origin will come to an end too. There are many ideas
about how this world will come to an end. Some think that ‘fire’ will be the cause of the
‘end’ of the world. Others believe that ‘ice’ will bring the end of the world. Both of these
ideas have their valid reasons. The poet sides and stands with those who believe that
‘fire’ will be the cause of the end. The poet is well aware how the fire of unbridled passions,
desires, lust and fury can lead to the destruction of humanity and the world. But the other
view is equally convincing. Cold and icy reasoning can create insensitiveness, rigidity,
frigidity, and indifferences in man. Ultimately it breeds hatred and contempt. This kind of
icy reasoning which is devoid of all human warmth, sympathy, love and understanding will
only bring destruction and death of this world.