The Subtleties of Snow: Eight Literary Depictions
Although we are technically still in Autumn, the days of long evening shadows and crisp, brown leaves underfoot seem well behind us now. The sun sets at 4pm, and bitter winds have finally begun to blow down Oxford’s narrow streets signifying an imminent close to the 2024 Michaelmas Term. We’ve even had our first flurry of snow – the very subject of our new display at the English Faculty Library.
The display queries the way in which snow has impacted characters in literature, or, acted as potential inspiration for authors. Furthermore, it highlights some of the many ways which writers have used snow to develop specific narratives and/or to allude to wider social issues. This blog post will detail the eight texts used in the display and discuss how snow has more of an impact on them than it may initially seem.
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous / Ocean Vuong (2019)
Whilst snow is not a central motif in Vuong’s memoir, his depiction of it is still noteworthy. Towards the opening of the text, our protagonist, Little Dog, is asked by his grandmother, Lan, to pluck out her grey hairs. Having been deeply affected by the horrors of the Vietnam War in her youth, Lan struggles with PTSD, and Vuong suggests that this trauma has imbued itself into her physical being; it has become the grey hairs on her head. Lan says, “Help me, Little Dog. […] Help me stay young, get this snow off of my life – get it all off my life” (Vuong 23).
As Little Dog extracts her hair, Lan extracts vivid memories and stories from the war, almost as though the action of removal consequently produces these images of the past. Vuong writes that “the room filled with our voices as the snow fell from her head, the hardwood around my knees whitening as the past unfolded around us” (23). Here, snow acts as a route into the past, becoming the vessel in which Vuong can highlight how physically attached those memories are to Lan. But why does Lan call these grey hairs “snow” in the first place? And, to what extent can we think of snow as invoking the past more widely? Questions to ponder over…
“As I plucked, the blank walls around us did not so much fill with fantastical landscapes as open into them, the plaster disintegrating to reveal the past behind it.” (22)
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Dubliners / James Joyce (1914)
One of the most famous depictions of snow in literature comes from James Joyce’s short story “The Dead,” featured in Dubliners. A tale about hopelessness and mediocrity, it follows Gabriel Conroy who attends a Christmas party with his wife, Gretta. As they are about to leave, Gabriel notices his wife deeply entranced by a song she hears. It transpires that she was moved by the memory of Michael Furey, a young lover of hers who had died from trying to visit her in the rain whilst ill. This sends Gabriel into a spiral of contemplation, causing him to realise how he had never been able to love so passionately.
Having to compete with the dead provokes a sense of meaninglessness and fragility within Gabriel, one that is exacerbated by the wintry weather outside. Saint-Amour writes that “the final paragraph of “The Dead” describes the loss of distinctions—the blurring of localities by a universalizing snowfall, the merging of “all” the living and the dead” (108), illustrating how the snow acts as a reminder of finality and mortality; it is the ultimate end to all. Like for Vuong then, snow in “The Dead” is the gateway between past and present, but here, it is also the gateway between the world of the living and the dead, with Joyce using it as a warning to all of what is to come.
“Yes, the newspapers were right: snow was general all over Ireland. It was falling on every part of the dark central plain, on the treeless hills, falling softly upon the Bog of Allen and, farther westward, softly falling into the dark mutinous Shannon waves. It was falling, too, upon every part of the lonely churchyard on the hill where Michael Furey lay buried. It lay thickly drifted on the crooked crosses and headstones, on the spears of the little gate, on the barren thorns. His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.” (Joyce 176)
“It sifts from Leaden Sieves –” / Emily Dickinson (1862)
– Emily Dickinson’s Poems: As She Preserved Them
Snow appears in Dickinson’s poetry almost sixty times (Folsom 362). This poem is one of her most famous allusions to it and highlights the endless nature of a cold winter. Dickinson does this predominantly through the poem’s structure. Written in uninterrupted quatrains, these provide a sense of permanency, as though the snow that falls ubiquitously is ceaseless. This is furthered by the excessive use of dashes and caesuras throughout – the snow continues to cover everything. As Folsom notes, “Dickinson portrays no human life; the scene is relentlessly one of desolation; snow is no place to frolic in Dickinson’s world” (370). So, snow becomes representative of death and isolation; it is, like for Joyce, that metamorphic substance which turns the land of the living into the land of the dead.
“It Ruffles Wrists of Posts
As Ankles of a Queen –
Then stills it’s Artisans – like Ghosts –
Denying they have been -” (Dickinson ll. 17-20)
See the full poem on the Poetry Foundation website below:
“It sifts from Leaden Sieves –” / Emily Dickinson
A Christmas Carol / Charles Dickens (1843)
Snow is simply a feature of winter in this one, but it’s fair to say that the display would feel incomplete without Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Ebenezer Scrooge is our protagonist, a man who famously despises Christmas but undergoes a great transformation throughout the text. One of the ways in which Dickens portrays this is through his depiction of the weather. In the opening, he writes that, “external heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge. […] No wind that blew was bitterer than he, no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose […]. Foul weather didn’t know where to have him” (Dickens 8). In other words, his indifference to the weather reflects his own sense of superiority, as well as his withdrawal from society more widely. It also resembles his cold-heartedness – a classic example of pathetic fallacy!
Over the course of the novella, as each spirit visits Scrooge, he learns that he must change his miserly ways. Upon waking up on Christmas morning, after a night of tough realisations, Scrooge notes that there is “no fog, no mist; clear, bright, jovial, stirring, cold; cold, piping for the blood to dance to; Golden sunlight; Heavenly sky; sweet fresh air; merry bells. Oh, glorious. Glorious!” (134). So, as Scrooge changes, so does the weather; his reaction to it symbolic of a new beginning.
“‘I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future!’ Scrooge repeated” (132)
Snow Country / Yasunari Kawabata (1956)
Snow Country is a jewel in the literary crown of Japanese fiction. First published in 1956, it was one of the texts cited by the Nobel Committee when awarding Kawabata the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968. The novel follows Shimamura’s retreat to an onsen town in Niigata where he reignites a romantic relationship with a geisha named Komako. Kawabata writes Shimamura’s entry to the rural snowy landscape as though it were an entry to a new world altogether. The opening line reads: “the train came out of the long tunnel into the snow country” (Kawabata 3), thus, beginning his novel with a shift into a dazzling yet unforgiving new terrain. The snow is immediately a transformative force.
But in Kawabata’s novel, the snow is not simply part of a landscape, it is part of a tradition. Towards the text’s climax, Shimamura wanders around various remote villages in the area. He is trying to find Chijimi – a type of material used for making clothes which has historically been bleached in the snow. Kawabata writes: “there is Chijimi linen because there is snow […]. Snow is the mother of Chijimi” (104). Known for being remarkably durable, the thought of Chijimi makes Shimamura compare its strength to his fading admiration for Komako, realising that he must end things with her. Snow then becomes a symbol of creation, endurance, and change in the novel – a force which even love cannot compete with.
“The thread was spun in the snow, and the cloth woven in the snow, washed in the snow, and bleached in the snow. Everything, from the first spinning of the thread to the last finishing touches, was done in the snow.” (Kawabata 104)
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“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” / Robert Frost (1923)
– Complete Poems of Robert Frost
Whilst not indicative of death like in Dickinson’s poem, snow in Frost’s poem certainly brings about questions of mortality. Arguably his most famous work, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” depicts the speaker stopping mid-journey to watch snow fall peacefully upon some woods, then eventually continuing with their trip. A poem of stasis and of quiet, it has endless analytical possibilities and garners just as many questions. Why does the speaker stop? What entices the speaker about the forest? Where is the speaker heading? These are just a few of those questions.
Whilst these are all up to interpretation, it is evident that the snow adds to a sense of mystery and curiosity throughout. Without it, perhaps the speaker would not have even stopped. So, what it is about the snow then? If it does symbolise death as in some of the other works in this display, then is the speaker contemplating death? If they are, is that what the final repeated lines are referring to? Or do we need to build upon the (almost) silence of the poem to suggest that the speaker just wanted to take a break from a tiring journey? Perhaps listening to “the sweep of easy wind and downy flake” (ll. 11-12) allowed them that peace. Either way, the snow here plays a critical role, so have another read through and see what answers you can come up with.
“The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.” (Frost ll. 13-16)
See the full poem on the Poetry Foundation website below:
“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” / Robert Frost
Native Son / Richard Wright (1940)
Richard Wright predominantly wrote about the social injustices and discrimination that Black people experienced in America in the early twentieth century. His novel Native Son is set in a poor area of Chicago’s South Side in which his protagonist, Bigger Thomas, lives with his family. Bigger’s life takes a tragic turn when he accidentally kills a White woman, and the plot which consequently unfolds reveals the racial prejudices that were prevalent at the time.
Wright alludes to nature extensively in the text, but his depiction of snow is particularly important. After Bigger’s gruesome attempt to cover his actions are discovered, he flees into a blizzard. He writes:
“Then he leaped, headlong, sensing his body twisting in the icy air as he hurtled. […] He was in the air a moment; then he hit. It seemed at first that he hit softly, but the shock of it went through him, up his back to his head and he lay buried in a cold pile of snow, dazed. Snow was in his mouth, eyes, ears; snow was seeping down his back” (Wright 651).
Montgomery suggests that “the snow is emblematic of the cold white world which opposes Bigger’s quest for selfhood” (460), illustrating how Wright utilises the weather to highlight the oppressive forces working against Bigger. This is further realised when Bigger is eventually captured in the snow by the Chicago Police. For Wright then, snow is a tool to expose wider social issues – a tool which Wright additionally employs in some of the many haikus that he wrote towards the end of his life.
Emma / Jane Austen (1815)
As in the modern day, snow also made headlines in Georgian England. Most notably in the winter of 1813/14, when London was so cold that the Thames froze over and paved an icy path for the city’s final Frost Fair. Heavy snow was also widely reported across the country, with various accidents occurring as a result. It was after this infamous winter that Jane Austen began writing Emma (Introduction xxi)…
In Chapter 15, set at the Weston’s home during a Christmas Eve dinner, Mr John Knightley declares that it has begun to snow. In a frenzy of concern about how they shall safely return home in less than half an inch of snow, the party attendants scramble into different carriages. This suddenly leaves Emma Woodhouse, our matchmaking protagonist, alone with the (rather tipsy) Mr Elton – the vicar.
Consequently, Mr Elton makes a rather abrupt marriage proposal to Emma, “declaring sentiments which must be already well known, hoping – fearing – adoring – ready to die if she refused him” (Austen 101). Sadly, for Mr Elton, she does indeed refuse him, but this moment in a frosty carriage highlights Elton’s intention to marry for money; he marries another wealthy woman shortly after this rejection.
It is interesting to observe here how Austen uses the weather as a chance to deepen character complexities and develop the narrative. Bartlett writes that “the snow in Emma is one of those events which provides everyone present with the opportunity to act intensely in character” (152), suggesting that, for Elton, his character is, in fact, one motivated by money and social status; a character which, arguably, only the warmth of “Mr Weston’s good wine” (101) and the cold of the snow could oust from his façade.
“The snow was no where above half an inch deep – in many places hardly enough to whiten the ground; a very few flakes were falling at present, but the clouds were parting, and there was every appearance of its being soon over.” (100)
Honourable Mentions:
- Winter / Ali Smith
- “The Snow Fairy” / Claude McKay
- I’m Thinking of Ending Things / Iain Reid
- The Ice Palace / Tarjei Vesaas
- Little Women / Louisa May Alcott
Bibliography
Austen, Jane. Emma. Oxford, Oxford UP, 2022.
Bartlett, Nora. Jane Austen : Reflections of a Reader, edited by Jane Stabler, Open Book Publishers, 2021. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/oxford/detail.action?docID=6475844.
Cowley, Katherine. “The Justified Fear of Snow in Jane Austen’s ‘Emma.’” Jane Austen’s World, 20 Feb. 2022, janeaustensworld.com/2022/02/20/the-justified-fear-of-snow-in-jane-austens-emma/. Accessed 9 Nov. 2024.
Dickens, Charles. A Christmas Carol: a facsimile of the manuscript in the Pierpont Morgan Library. New York, James H. Heineman, Inc, 1967.
Dickinson, Emily. “It sifts from Leaden Sieves -.” Emily Dickinson’s Poems: As She Preserved Them, edited by Cristanne Miller, Harvard UP, 2016, p. 248.
Folsom, L. Edwin. “”The Souls That Snow”: Winter in the Poetry of Emily Dickinson.” American Literature, vol. 47, no. 3, 1975, pp. 361-376.
Frost, Robert. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” Complete Poems of Robert Frost, Jonathan Cape, 1951, p. 250.
“Introduction.” Austen, Jane. Emma. Edited by Richard Cronin and Dorothy McMillan, Cambridge, Cambridge UP, 2005, pp. xxi–lxxiv.
Joyce, James. Dubliners. Oxford, Oxford UP, 2008
Kawabata, Yasunari. Snow Country. London, Penguin Books, 2011.
Montgomery, Maxine L. “Racial Armageddon: The Image of Apocalypse in Richard Wright’s “Native Son”.” CLA Journal, vol. 34, no. 4, 1991, pp. 453-466.
Saint-Amour, Paul K. “”Christmas Yet To Come”: Hospitality, Futurity, the Carol, and “The Dead”.” Representations, vol. 98, no. 1, 2007, pp. 93-117.
Vuong, Ocean. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous. London, Vintage, 2020.
Wright, Richard. “Native Son.” Richard Wright Early Works: Lawd Today!, Uncle Tom’s Children, Native Son, New York, The Library of America, 1991, pp. 443-851.