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Dust of Snow Notes Class 10

The poem "Dust of Snow" by Robert Frost describes how the poet's gloomy mood is lifted by a small incident involving nature. The poet was feeling unhappy while sitting under a hemlock tree, when snow fell from the tree's branch after being shaken by a crow. Though crows and hemlock trees often symbolize negative meanings, the soft, cold snow's touch on the poet made his bitterness vanish and brightened his entire day. The poem illustrates how small things in nature can positively impact one's mood and perception of life.

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Sandhya Dubey
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973 views5 pages

Dust of Snow Notes Class 10

The poem "Dust of Snow" by Robert Frost describes how the poet's gloomy mood is lifted by a small incident involving nature. The poet was feeling unhappy while sitting under a hemlock tree, when snow fell from the tree's branch after being shaken by a crow. Though crows and hemlock trees often symbolize negative meanings, the soft, cold snow's touch on the poet made his bitterness vanish and brightened his entire day. The poem illustrates how small things in nature can positively impact one's mood and perception of life.

Uploaded by

Sandhya Dubey
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Dust of Snow

Poem 1
Summary and Notes

Dust of Snow Introduction


The poem “Dust of Snow” by Robert Frost is a simple and short poem, yet with a
deeper and larger meaning. The poet explains how an act as petty as
experiencing snow on one’s body can brighten one’s day up. The message of the
poem is put into words by Robert Frost:
“Always, always a larger significance...
A little thing touches a larger thing.”

Summary of Dust of Snow Class 10 English


The winter season has arrived and the poet was not in a good mood. He was not
feeling good and happy from the inside. The snow has covered the entire place in
a white carpet. He was sitting idle under a hemlock tree. It was clad with white
snow. Suddenly, a crow perched on a branch in that tree. The imbalanced snow
fell on him. It was soft, velvety and cold. The Summary of Dust of Snow Class 10
English describes how this simple incident made him change from all gloomy to
happy. The soft-touch of the cold snow was interpreted as the care of nature
making everyone happy. His bitterness vanished and he felt a lot refreshed by the
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incident. His entire day became enlightened and he felt a streak of joy running his
mind.

People consider black crows as the symbol of fear, bad luck and death but the
poet realized something different in his bitter mood. He realized that the crow is
a part of nature. He depicted that even if a crow is linked to a bad omen, it still
brought him happiness. He realized that the mood and perception of a person
have to do everything he analyzes and concludes. For him, the crow made his day
brighter by shaking the branch and let the snow fall on him.

Robert Frost might have chosen a tree that symbolizes happiness, joy and
merriment. Despite the fact, he chose to go with hemlock trees. These trees are
poisonous and toxic to human beings. As you can see, the poet has used negative
proper nouns to show happiness.

The poet was feeling quite down that day. He was feeling utter despair and
wanted to end his life. Despite the poisonous tree and the omen of the black
crow, the white snow made him change his mind. He was aware of the toxic snow
falling on him from the hemlock branch. As per the Class 10 English poem Dust of
Snow Summary, he chose positivity that the serene white snow delivered when
he touched it. He suddenly realizes that life is what you choose to do. He shook
off all his negative feelings and started to see life in a different and happier way.
According to him, it was nature that made him realize that he was going in the
wrong direction.

The poem is the perfect depiction of what life can be. It all depends on the person
and his thoughts. Your choices and emotional state will decide whether you will
be happy in life or not. The poet, even though he was suffering from utter despair
and witnessed a bad omen under a hemlock tree, chose to bring a positive change
and move on. A small gesture from nature made him realize how beautiful life
can be if we know how to live it. The NCERT Class 10 English Dust of Snow
Summary suggests we need to find happiness in smaller things to overcome the
bad phases of life.

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Dust of Snow Question and Answers

Q1. What is a “dust of snow”? What does the poet


say has changed his mood? How has the poet’s
mood changed?
A. “Dust of snow” refers to the tiny particles of snow.
The particles are so small that poet referred to them
as “dust”. The poet was in an awful mood when
particles of snow had fallen on him. This changed
the poet’s frame of mind instantly and his day got a
lot better.

Q 2. How does Frost present nature in this poem?


The following questions may help you to think of an
answer.
(i) What are the birds that are usually named in
poems? Do you think a crow is often mentioned in
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poems? What images come to your mind when you
think of a crow?
A. Birds like sparrow, nightingale and peacock are
more than often named in poems. Unlike these
birds, crows are often seen as the indicators of
doom and fear. They are often used for negative
references.

(ii) Again, what is “a hemlock tree”? Why doesn’t the


poet write about a more ‘beautiful’ tree such as a
maple, or an oak, or a pine?
A. Trees are also seen as mighty creatures
imparting wisdom as they’re too old. They give out
oxygen and absorb the carbon dioxide which is
connected with absorbing all the negative energy.
But there are trees that are poisonous too, like a
hemlock tree. The poet does not mention a more
‘beautiful’ tree such as maple, oak or pine because
he wants to indicate a sad scene. Being poisonous,
a hemlock tree is considered bad and so, he refers
to it.

(iii) What do the ‘crow’ and ‘hemlock’ represent —


joy or sorrow? What does the dust of snow that the
crow shakes off a hemlock tree stand for?

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A. Both crow and the hemlock tree represent
sorrow. Frost has used both the negative
creatures (crow and the hemlock tree) as the
carriers of positivism and strength that
transformed his day for the better. By not using
birds like sparrow and nightingale and trees like
maple, oak or a pine, the poet has tried
to break down all the preconceived notions we
have about certain agents of nature. He has
tried to make us understand that we see the
world not as how it is, but as how we want to
see it. Thus, the crow sitting and a hemlock tree
together made his day better. The dust of snow
stands for joy.

………………………………………………………….

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