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Hmm. I think that can be read different ways. He had a dark foreboding for the day and the crow encounter only saved a part of the day. Rather than optimist
by dev_tty01 3y ago
Hmm. I think that can be read different ways. He had a dark foreboding for the day and the crow encounter only saved a part of the day. Rather than optimistic, it could be perceived as still able recognize a small bit of light through his darkness. That's what great about art. The perception and situation of the viewer shapes the experience.
- FergusArgyll 3y agoTo me, that's optimism. It's really the same feeling I get from The Magpie. It's like; There aren't many good things about the winter, it's cold, it's miserable, but look how pretty it can be sometimes
- saltcured 3y agoWell, it's full of conventionally dark symbols: the crow, hemlock, and cold winter season. And the diction echoes this with words like shook, dust, and rued. Other word choices could have told a very similar story in a more cheery mood, if desired. It's also a vignette devoid of human contact, which is common to many of Frost's more introspective poems. The narrator is the main character in an empty or lonely scene, except for a brief interaction with an animal. Even the choice to say "change of mood" delays clarity until the words "save" and "rued" provide disambiguation. Yet it is also quite short, almost an epigram. So while the final message is one of positive valence, it is rooted in dark humor, almost a wink emerging from a scowl. I think this is an example where Frost is revisiting some of the ground shared with one of his early influences, Edgar Allen Poe.