An Analysis Of 'The Snow Man' By Wallace Stevens

The Soldier After reading quite a few poems and short stories, I was beginning to become very aggravated. The fact that I could not understand any of the underlying meanings of them was really starting to tick me off. As much as I do not like to read, I finally decided it would be best if I just started reading them over again with a calm and open mind. Once I began to read over them again, there was one poem in particular that really jumped out to me. The poem was, “The Snow Man”, by Wallace Stevens. The reason why this poem enlightened me so much is because I was thinking of a Soldier and their family. I began to ponder over what goes through a soldiers mind when they are at war, or even what may be going through the families mind.

I feel

He was very grateful for things that we take for granted and at the same time very alert of his surroundings. Therefore, when I read these next couple of lines I thought of Dad and all the other soldiers who have been deployed. “And have been cold a long time to behold the junipers shagged with ice” (Stevens 903). My dad was overseas for a total of nine months, so he was used to the way things were over there. For example, if he wanted to go to the restroom he would have to walk around a half a mile to a mile to go. By the way, the restrooms are not like the ones here; all they are contained of is a cement building with holes in the ground for you to do your business. Now my dad did not have to fight or anything like that when he was there, but imagine someone who is. There are soldiers out there doing missions that may have not even seen a bathroom like that in a few days. When Stevens says, “And have been cold a long time” I think of the soldiers who have been over there a long time and have been without things that people here would not give a second thought about. In the light of it all, once they are home they appreciate the littlest of things: especially family. Therefore when Stevens says, “To behold the junipers of shagged with ice” I think of how the soldiers see everything with a new meaning and how much more important it is than it was

They think it is wrong and cruel to kill people, they just want things to be handled peacefully. As for the others in America, they support their soldier’s one hundred percent of the way. Not everyone has that mindset, which is why we have wars, if everyone wanted to handle things by discussing the issue and coming up with a resolution calmly then it would be fine. However, that is not the case I would rather have soldiers go overseas than to wait for the terrorists to come over to America. In the last stanza of the poem Steven says, “For the listener, who listens in the snow, and, nothing himself, beholds nothing that is not there and the nothing that is” (Stevens 903). When I read this part, I thought of all the people in America who do not care about the wars and think it is wrong. As soon as a soldier comes back home they should be greeted with love and support, not hatred. I do not think some people realize what a soldier has went through, all the hurt and pain for nothing. They chose to leave their families and everything else behind to protect the people. There are many soldiers out there who have been suffering for Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome, while there are some with their lives were ruined and others gone. I feel as if this last stanza was talking about the people’s perception of war. Without it there is nothing which is understandable, but as the