” Hardy uses some very effective language in the next couple of lines to describe the snow’s movement. The phrases, “flakes have lost their way and grope back upward” and “… meandering down they turn and descend again” are extremely effective and give a good impression of how the snow weaves and how the flakes actually move. The next verse describes the effect of the snow on a sparrow, where it so nearly buries the sparrow. Hardy describes the scene thus: “a snow-lump thrice his own size, descends on him… and overturns him and near inurns him.
” This portrays the sparrow as being overpowered by the snow and the language used is once again effective. The poem ends with a description of a cat, where we can come to the conclusion of the cat being thin and cold as well as struggling with the snow. The last line involves a human being for the first time throughout the poem; “… black cat comes, wide-eyed and thin; and we take him in. ” The fact that there is no human involvement until the last line of the poem emphasises that the poem is about snow and how it affects living things.
Hardy describes in detail the snow’s effect and conveys his message with the use of strong vocabulary and effective language. Edward Thomas’ poem “Snow” describes the experience of a child with snow and her innocence. Thomas begins the poem by describing the snow’s silencing effect and the phrase; “gloom of whiteness” in the first line sets the scene for the poem very well. This is owing to it being an oxymoron; the gloom being the dark side whilst the whiteness is the snow. Thomas uses direct speech in his poem to describe the child’s emotions; “bitterly sighing.
” The use of these strong adverbs describes the snows effect very well as it portrays the child’s bitterness at the bird dying. The bird’s feathers are what the child thinks is causing the snow to fall as when the bird died the scene created is very gloomy. The poem ends with the effective phrase, “and still it fell though that dusky brightness, on the child crying for the bird of the snow. ” This explains that the snow continues to fall even though the child is crying. Thomas describes the effect of the snow on the child very cleverly by mixing the child’s emotions with the snow – the child believes its snowing because of the bird’s death.
All three poets use a contrasting variety of poetic techniques in their poems. Bridges uses a variety of alliteration to good effect; “lessened the load,” “silently sifting,” “road roof and railing. ” All of these examples evoke ideas that Bridges is trying to portray such as the silencing effect. This can be seen in the phrase “stillness of solemn air. ” Bridges also uses a metaphor to describe the precious nature of the snow; “they gathered up the crystal manna” – describing how the children are collecting the snow. Personification is used by Bridges in the phrase “his sparkling beams. ” This suggests the sun as being extremely important.
Furthermore, Bridges uses onomatopoeia to evoke action into the poem; “muffling” and “plunging” are examples of this. The rhyme scheme of “London Snow” is an ABAB where every other word rhymes. This is evident with the fact that the pace of the poem quickens. Hardy uses a number of poetic techniques as well. A simile is used in the phrase “every fork like a white web-foot” which implies that the twigs appear as a duck’s foot. Hardy uses assonance to effect with the phrase, “snow-lump thrice his own slight size” and also alliteration; “waft of wind with the fleecy fall,” which both describe the snow’s movement.
The rhyme scheme of the poem is AABB which are rhyming couplets and the pace of the poem does not quicken whereas Bridges’ does. Thomas’ poem “Snow” is a completely different concept to the other two poems as a result of the whole poem being a metaphor. This is owing to the snow being portrayed as the bird’s feathers. There is sign of alliteration though, where “Silence of snow” is used to describe the snow as a silencer. There is no consistent rhyme scheme to the poem whereas there is in the other two poems.
All three of the poems have a contrasting structure. Bridges’ structure is a thirty seven line poem with three line stanzas and a total of four sentences are used throughout the poem. Apart from the beginning and the end of the poem, every third line is indented. Hardy, however, has used four verses and where the first contains eight lines and the other three contain four lines. There are four sentences just as in Bridges poem. Thomas’ poem is an eight line verse and contains two sentences throughout the poem rather than the four that Bridges and Hardy used.
In conclusion, I feel Robert Bridges has effectively created the snowy scene in his poem “London Snow. ” I believe the detail of the description he has used has worked effectively as it portrays a magical Impression of the snow. Bridges uses a variety of adjectives and verbs to describe the snow and how it can transform a scene; “Stifling,” “Incessantly,” and “Silently sifting” are a few examples of adjectives used to describe the scene. Bridges creates many ideas and messaged to do with the snow such as how at first it can be magical and pure but it can then be ruined by people walking on it.
I feel this portrays the snowy scene well and depicts exactly what happens owing to the snow being uncontrollable. The fact that Bridges has used many poetic techniques makes his poem effective. He uses a number of alliterative phrases including “Silently Sifting” which describes the snow’s silencing effect. Furthermore, he uses metaphors, onomatopoeia and personification. Therefore after assessing all three poems, I have reached the conclusion that Robert Bridges’ poem “London Snow” is the most effective in creating the snowy scene.
