Louis MacNeice's poem "Snow"

This study will analyze Louis MacNeice's poem "Snow," considering the poetic elements of character, setting, words and symbolism. The study will argue that MacNeice uses these four elements of poetry to show how contradictory and paradoxical life is, and how human consciousness is inevitably baffled as it tries to bring together in a sensical way the disparate and even absurd elements of that life.

Finally, the speaker---and the poem as a whole---find some sort of unification in a surrender of reason and an acceptance of the mystery of life, even though he in his poem is not able to name that mystery in a way which would fit into the limited realm of human reason.

The character of the narrator is itself representative of this paradoxical nature of life. The speaker is at the same time trying to bring together these disparate elements of life and nature, and admitting that it is impossible for him to make sense out of their confusing juxtaposition.

The speaker expresses his character as if he were trying to express two sides of himself as contradictory as snow outside and pink roses inside, separated by only the glass of his window. The character of the speaker must use words to try to explain or describe a mystery which is greater than the ability of words to explain or describe it.

We find the speaker making such word choices as "incompatible," "crazier," "incorrigibly plural," and "drunkenness" as he struggles futilely to bring the overwhelming bounty of the world an

Related Essays

Louis XIV Louis XIV was born on September 5, 1638 and died on September 1, 1715. He .... age. Even at age thirteen, Louis proved to be autocratic. .... (979 4 )

Louis XVI The Cutting Off Of Absolute Monarchy With the guillotining of Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette, one might say absolute monarchy was literally cut off .... (1702 7 )

Louis Armstrong This paper will discuss the life and music of jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong. .... No one is sure of the exact date that Louis Armstrong was born. .... (1896 8 )

Louis XIV of France On November 11, 1630, historically known as the "Day of Dupes", Louis XIII rejected the Queen Mother and her claims for family in favor of the Cardinal and his .... (2351 9 )

Louis Pasteur Louis Pasteur was born in Dole, in the region of Dura, France, in 1822, and grew up in the town of Arbois, the son of a tanner (Cohn, 1996; Hyperlab, 2004). .... (1061 4 )

Louis XIV Book Report Louis XIV and Twenty Million Frenchmen In Louis XIV and Twenty Million Frenchmen, historian Pierre Goubert gives us a unique interpretation of the era of Louis .... (1896 8 )

iting. He is in a state which is utterly open to the world around him. He may be looking at the roses and feeling as if the world were stuck in one place, a place of flowers and blooming and sunshine. Suddenly, it starts snowing and the speaker is immediately conscious of the snow and the roses. His human reason kicks in and he tries to bring together the two sides of life and nature: "The room was suddenly rich and the great bay-window was/ Spawning snow and pink roses against it/ Soundlessly collateral and incompatible:/ World is suddener than we fancy it" (lines 1-4). His appreciation of the juxtaposition is expressed in the word "rich." He recognizes the bounty of life, but he is still trying to bring it together in a way which his reason can understand. He finds the contradictions side-by-side ("collateral") and yet incongruous ("incompatible"). His first conclusion is that the world is simply capable of surprising us with its sudden changes. He has been in a sort of timeless state of contemplation which has been broken suddenly, immediately, with no warning, by the snow's appearance on the other side of the glass, just inches from the roses. The window is symbolic for the distance which separates life's contradictions,

Category: Literature - L