Snow-Bound is a long poem by the American poet John Greenleaf Whittier. The poem’s full title is “Snow-Bound: A Winter Idyl.” It was published in 1866 and became a popular favorite because of its affectionate portrayal of family life. It describes the poet’s boyhood experience of being confined to the family’s farmhouse during a snowstorm. As the storm rages outside, the family gathers by the fireside for readings, storytelling, and general festivities. During his recollection, the speaker occasionally pauses to consider its significance to his older self.
In the extract below, the speaker describes the second night of the storm, and reflects on how much has changed since that time.
The moon above the eastern wood Shone at its full; the hill-range stood Transfigured in the silver flood, Its blown snows flashing cold and keen, Dead white, save where some sharp ravine Took shadow, or the sombre green Of hemlocks turned to pitchy black Against the whiteness at their back. For such a world and such a night Most fitting that unwarming light, Which only seemed where’er it fell To make the coldness visible. Shut in from all the world without, We sat the clean-winged hearth about. Content to let the north-wind roar In baffled rage at pane and door, While the red logs before us beat The frost-line back with tropic heat; And ever, when a louder blast Shook beam and rafter as it passed, The merrier up its roaring draught The great throat of the chimney laughed, The house-dog on his paws outspread Laid to the fire his drowsy head, The cat’s dark silhouette on the wall A couchant tiger’s seemed to fall; And, for the winter fireside meet, Between the andirons’ straddling feet, The mug of cider simmered slow, The apples sputtered in a row, And, close at hand, the basket stood With nuts from brown October’s wood. What matter how the night behaved? What matter how the north-wind raved? Blow high, blow low, not all its snow Could quench our hearth-fire’s ruddy glow. O Time and Change!—with hair as gray As was my sire’s that winter day, How strange it seems, with so much gone Of life and love, to still live on! Ah, brother! only I and thou Are left of all that circle now,— The dear home faces whereupon That fitful firelight paled and shone. Henceforward, listen as we will, The voices of that hearth are still; Look where we may, the wide earth o’er, Those lighted faces smile no more. We tread the paths their feet have worn, We sit beneath their orchard-trees, We hear, like them, the hum of bees And rustle of the bladed corn; We turn the pages that they read, Their written words we linger o’er, But in the sun they cast no shade, No voice is heard, no sign is made, No step is on the conscious floor! Yet Love will dream, and Faith will trust, (Since He who knows our need is just,) That somehow, somewhere, meet we must. Alas for him who never sees The stars shine through his cypress-trees! Who, hopeless, lays his dead away, Nor looks to see the breaking day Across the mournful marbles play! Who hath not learned, in hours of faith, The truth to flesh and sense unknown, That Life is ever lord of Death, And Love can never lose its own!
Though there is a sense of sadness in the recognition of time and change, Whittier’s message is not gloomy. All but two of the characters the poet remembers are dead, but he is strengthened by the conviction that “somehow, somewhere, must we meet.” Unlike those “hopeless” people who cannot see the stars shine, Whittier emphasizes throughout his poem that “Life is ever lord of Death.”
“Snow-Bound” is written in iambic tetrameter. An iambic rhythm consists of alternating unstressed and stressed syllables, and a tetrameter contains four stresses per line. The rhyme scheme is one of rhyming couplets (pairs), with occasional variations. Within this structure, Whittier’s description is flowing and compelling, with a high level of descriptive power. His message becomes not just one of sentiment or nostalgia, but also a statement of wider, thoughtful reflection and philosophical insight. Some critics have regretted Whittier’s use of moralizing tones at the end of “Snow-Bound.” But the overall effect of this poem has made it both a critical and popular success throughout its history.
For more information about Whittier, see Whittier, John Greenleaf. See also American literature (The Era of Expansion (1831-1870)).
