“Dust of Snow” Introduction

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“Dust of Snow” Summary

“Dust of Snow” Themes

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  Humanity and the Natural World

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Dust of Snow”

• Lines 1-2

  The way a crow
  Shook down on me

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 3-4

  The dust of snow
  From a hemlock tree

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-8

  Has given my heart
  A change of mood
  And saved some part
  Of a day I had rued.

  

  

  

  

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“Dust of Snow” Symbols

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  The Crow

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• 

  Snow

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“Dust of Snow” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Consonance

  

  

  

  

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• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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• Irony

  

  

  

  

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• Juxtaposition

  

  

  

  

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“Dust of Snow” Vocabulary

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• Hemlock Tree
• Rued

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Dust of Snow”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Dust of Snow” Speaker

“Dust of Snow” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Dust of Snow”

More “Dust of Snow” Resources

• External Resources

  • The Poem Out Loud — A reading of "Dust of Snow."

  • Frost at Home — A 1952 interview with the poet himself.

  • New Hampshire (Full Text) — A full text of the collection in which "Dust of Snow" originally appeared.

  • A Biography of the Poet — Read about Frost's life and work at the Poetry Foundation.

  • "A Lover's Quarrel with the World" — A documentary about Frost's remarkable career.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Robert Frost

  • Acquainted with the Night

  • After Apple-Picking

  • A Roadside Stand

  • Birches

  • Desert Places

  • Design

  • Fire and Ice

  • Home Burial

  • Mending Wall

  • Mowing

  • My November Guest

  • Nothing Gold Can Stay

  • Out, Out—

  • Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

  • The Death of the Hired Man

  • The Oven Bird

  • The Road Not Taken

  • The Sound of the Trees

  • The Tuft of Flowers

  • The Wood-Pile