Dust of Snow
INTRODUCTION—
‘Dust of Snow’ by Robert Frost is a brief poem but it conveys the poet’s message coherently. The poem shows how human judgement on certain issues can be misleading. The poet depicts the crow and the hemlock tree as reasons for his changed mood and increased optimism.
SUMMARY—
‘Dust of Snow’ is a beautiful short poem, written by Robert Frost. This poem tells that even a simple moment has a large impact and significance. The poet has mentioned crow and hemlock tree in this poem. Crow signifies his depressive and sorrowful mood and hemlock tree is a poisonous tree. Both of these signify that the poet was not in a good mood and so he describes the dark, depressive and bitter side of nature to present his similar mood.
In such a sad, depressive mood, the poet was sitting under a hemlock tree. A crow, sitting on the same tree, shook off the dust of snow i.e., small particles of snow that remain on the surface after the snowfall, on the poet. This simple action changed the poet’s mood. He realized that he had just wasted a part of his day repenting and being lost in sorrow. But the change in his mood made him realize that he should utilize the rest of the day in some useful activity. His sorrow was washed away by the light shower of snow dust. His spirit was revived and he got ready to utilize the rest of the day constructively.
Explanation of the Poem
The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.
Explanation: The poet is upset and sitting under the hemlock tree. Suddenly a crow, sitting on the tree, shakes the particles of snow from the tree which fall on the poet. The soft and cold touch of snow changes the poet’s mood from sad to happy. He starts feeling soothed and refreshed. In this way, a simple moment proves to be very significant and saves the rest of the day of poet from being wasted and held in regret.
Poetic Devices
Rhyme Scheme : abab cdcd
Alliteration : Has given my heart.
And saved some part.
Choose the correct answer.
Question. The falling of dust of snow on the poet:
(i) upset his mood
(ii) lifted his mood
(iii) irritated him
(iv) None of these
Answer. B
Question. Of the many symbols the hemlock tree represents, choose the one that Frost drew upon in all likelihood, for this poem.
(i) Symbol of longevity
(ii) Symbol of togetherness
(iii) Symbol of healing
(iv) Symbol of protection
Answer. C
Question. Choose the option showing the reason NOT corresponding with “… a crow / Shook down on me / The dust of snow”.
(i) The crow’s landing on the branch of the tree.
(ii) The shivering of the crow, due to the cold.
(iii) The readjustment of position of the crow on the branch.
(iv) The cawing of the crow hidden in the foliage.
Answer. D
Question. How did the dust of snow affect the poet?
(i) It made him energetic.
(ii) It changed his mood.
(iii) It made him superior.
(iv) None of these
Answer. B
Question. What was the mood of the poet in the beginning of the poem?
(i) Sad
(ii) Happy
(iii) Confused
(iv) None of these
Answer. A
Extract Based Questions
Read the following extracts and answer the questions/complete the sentences that follow :
1. Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.
Question. Whose part of the day has been saved ?
(i) People’s
(ii) The poet’s
(iii) The poetess
(iv) The travellers
Answer. (ii) The poet’s
Question. Of what change does the poet mention here ?
(i) change of weather
(ii) change of climate
(iii) change of season
(iv) change of mood
Answer. (iv) change of mood
Question. Who is the poet of this poem ?
(i) R.L. Stevenson
(ii) Robert Frost
(iii) William Wordsworth
(iv) Ruskin Bond
Answer.(ii) Robert Frost
Question. What is the rhyme scheme of the stanza ?
(i) aabb
(ii) baba
(iii) abba
(iv) abab
Answer. (iv) abab
OR
Question. Who shook the hemlock tree ?
(i) The crow
(ii) The parrot
(iii) The monkey
(iv) An eagle
Answer. (i) The crow
Question. Poet’s change of mood was due to falling of __________ .
(i) ripe fruit
(ii) beautiful flowers
(iii) dust of snow
(iv) leaves
Answer.(iii) dust of snow
Question. Name the poet.
(i) William Wordsworth
(ii) Ruskin Bind
(iii) Robert Frost
(iv) R.L. Stevenson
Answer.(iii) Robert Frost
Question. Which word in the passage means same as ‘held in regret’ ?
(i) shook
(ii) hemlock
(iii) mood
(iv) rued
Answer.(iv) rued
2.The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.
Question. What did it shake on the poet ?
(i) rubber ball
(ii) fruit of a tree
(iii) a small pebble
(iv) dust of snow
Answer.(iv) dust of snow
Question. What was the poet’s state of mind at that time ?
(i) good mood
(ii) best mood
(iii) not very good mood
(iv) depressive mood
Answer.(iv) depressive mood
Question. Give a rhyming word of ‘crow’ from the passage.
(i) heart
(ii) mood
(iii) snow
(iv) rued
Answer.(iii) snow
Question. Where was the crow sitting ?
(i) on a Banyan tree
(ii) on a Hemlock tree
(iii) on a Pine tree
(iv) on a Gulmohar tree
Answer.(ii) on a Hemlock tree
3. The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
Question. ___________ sat in a sad mood.
(i) The poetess
(ii) The young man
(iii) The poet
(iv) An old man
Answer.(iii) The poet
Question. Find the name of a ‘poisonous plant’ from the passage.
(i) Hemlock
(ii) English yew
(iii) Poison Ivy
(iv) Ladies glove
Answer. (i) Hemlock
Question. Who sat on a branch of hemlock tree ?
(i) a crow
(ii) an eagle
(iii) an owl
(iv) a sparrow
Answer.(i) a crow
Question. Which thing changed the poet’s mood ?
(i) an ice cream
(ii) Dust of Snow
(iii) snowfall
(iv) flowers
Answer.(ii) Dust of Snow
Short Answer Type Questions
Question. What is the message given by the poem?
Answer.The poem teaches us that we should not be desperate because there is always an opportunity to change the sad mood into happy mood. Today, when most of the people are living in stressful atmosphere, the poem teaches us to gain happiness from little things.
Question. What is the underlying message for us in our hectic life with reference to the poem, ‘Dust of Snow’ ?
Answer. With reference to the poem ‘Dust of Snow’, the underlying message for us in our hectic life is that we should enjoy nature to the utmost and we should have a positive outlook even towards simple acts because they can lead to the learning of greater lessons of enjoying life.
Long Answer Type Questions
Question. No matter how ordinary or unimportant an incident may be, it’s the reaction or the response that matters.Taking inspiration from the poet’s reaction, write how inherent values can be picked up and learnt.Mention any two lessons for students like you that could be useful. (Dust of Snow)
Answer.
Yes, response matters a lot. Inherent values can be picked up by adopting a positive attitude towards nature. Since nature is a great teacher, each little thing in nature can teach us some important lessons at times. Even a small flake of snow has its own significance. We should not judge anything by its appearance even crow and hemlock, tree known as bad omen, could bring cheerfulness in uplifting the poet’s mood. So nothing is useless in nature. Nature is very beautiful. One should live his present cheerfully. Students can pick these qualities from nature that could be useful for them. Flowers and chocolates bring happiness to us, but not always. At times even little dust of snow could prove to be useful in cheering up our moods or most importantly someone’s innocent smile can also change our mood and day, which is of course free of cost. We can cheer our near and dear ones with our precious smile.
