OVERVIEW
There are many poems that depict the beauty of snowfall and present its impact on the emotions of the writer/persona. This poem is special in portraying an URBAN COMMUNITY’S RESPONSE TO A VISITATION OF SNOW: it conveys in chronological order, the amazement of early risers, schoolboys, carters delivering produce from the countryside to the city, Christian worshippers and workers on trains, responding to the brilliant beauty of the all-white scene laid out before them. If you have never seen snow before, this poem introduces you to the drama of snowfall, to the hushed, silent and gentle way it sways through the air and settles itself lightly on the ground, covering buildings, trees, parks, muddy roads with a layer of white purity. It shows how a snowy landscape lifts the spirits of people, mentally whisking them away from their daily woes and worries.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE LONDON SETTING
The poem was published in 1890 when England’s industrialization was at its height. The rapid urbanization shocked people, tearing them away from their pre-industrial connection to nature and God. Nevertheless cities, especially London, were seen as a necessary fact of life that promised work and prosperity. Many writers of this period tried to reconcile modern city life with the traditional values of the countryside.
Bridges’ poem sees London as a place that is modern but still connected to nature and spirituality. It explores how nature in the form of snowfall takes over the morning life of the city. The snowy landscape interrupts the artificial sights and sounds of city life, asserting the power and beauty of nature. The snow is said to be “veiling” or covering up such modern city features as “road[s]” and “railing[s]”. It also “hush[es]” the sounds of the traffic. However aside from the title “London Snow”, the allusion to St. Paul’s Cathedral is the only other specific reference to London.
ST. PAUL’S CATHEDRAL is the only part of London that is specifically mentioned. An Anglican Cathedral, its mention in the poem highlights the theme of nature being a conduit that connects city folk to God, to spiritual aspects of life.
TENSION BETWEEN THE SPIRITUAL AND THE SECULAR
You may have noted MANY RELIGIOUS ALLUSIONS in the poem. The cloudless sky is referred to as a “high and frosty heaven”, raising the reader’s awareness of God’s presence in the place from where snow came. The snow is described through metaphor as “crystal manna,” which is the food that the Bible says God miraculously provided to the Israelites as they wandered into the wilderness. Snow is seen here as spiritually healing, but then we also ask ourselves, is London a wilderness or spiritually confusing place from which people must be saved? Indeed the image of the schoolboys “freez[ing]/ their tongues with tasting” snow makes us recall people receiving the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist at mass.
IS INDUSTRIALISING LONDON A SPIRITUAL WILDERNESS? There is a TENSION in the poem between the secular, materialistic aspect of city life and the spiritual depth that appreciation of nature can give to city folk. This conflict is communicated by LANGUAGE AND IMAGES WITH DUAL, CONTRADICTORY MEANINGS. For e.g., the snow’s whiteness giving off a “strange unheavenly glare”—this initially suggests that nature lacks spiritual connection, but then the word “heavenly” in “unheavenly”, coming at us unexpectedly in that context, together with the reference to strangeness makes us think of the divine. Perhaps the glare is “unheavenly” in that it has a divine resonance but appears on earth, making it “strange”. The imagery of “trains of sombre men” walking along “long brown paths…toward their toil” refers to workers heading towards factories and offices but also suggests people on a religious pilgrimage. Their encounter with snow allows their “daily thoughts of labour and sorrow” to “slumber,” to take a respite, as they gaze into the vision of the divine offered by the beauty of snow.
THE PERSONIFICATION OF NATURE
The snow comes “stealthily” in the middle of the night when everyone is asleep and seems full of intention, “muffling” the sounds of the city, “lazily” floating down and “hiding difference”, “making unevenness even”. The sun is referred to with the third-person pronoun, “his”.
This consistent use of personification in tandem with religious allusions perhaps suggests that nature has consciousness and a will that derives from God.
USE OF SOUND EFFECTS
The poem does not use any recognizable stanza form, comprising 37 lines in one long stanza. But all the lines rhyme although in an irregular manner—a scheme that connects different parts of the poem in interlocking rhymes, including half rhymes. For instance, the first lot of lines follow the rhyme scheme of ababcbcdcdcdedefgfg, where a new pair of rhymes connects to the one before. This makes us aware of connections between different dimensions in life, human, earthly and divine, although their union may be shortlived as seen in the morning sun thawing out the snow and interrupting the white purity of the dawn.
Yet, the use of the PRESENT PARTICIPLE suggests that the snow and its uplifting effects are continuous, at least for the time the poem lasts. There’s also a musical chanting effect to the poem with these words dispersed throughout the poem: “flying”, “falling”, settling”, “hushing”, “deadening”, “drifting”, “sailing”, “calling”, snowballing” and “sparkling” that mimics the hypnotic, sedating effect of snowfall.
The 37 lines make up ONLY FOUR SENTENCES, with end stops in lines 9, 24, 30 and 37. This adds to the feeling of a gentle flow in the poem that mimics the continuous light falling of snow. Many lines flow without caesura whereas other lines offer one or two caesura, lending energy to the depiction of the snowfall and the excitement it generates in the human heart.
The abundant use of ALLITERATION, as in “dawning” and “dazzling”, “snow”, “stealthily” and “settling”, “road, roof and railing”, “carts creak”, “plunging” and “peering”, and “pale” and “paul’s” has an euphonic effect which conveys feelings of softness and peace.