Poetry of the Season
A Reason to Smile
Today, in our “A Reason to Smile” feature, we are inspired by the season and turn to the worlds of poetry and painting. The latter you can see in the image above of a magpie amidst the snow by French impressionist Claude Monet. The poem, by Emily Dickinson, is below.
While we await the official start of winter, the weather that accompanies the season is already upon some of the country. The pictures out of Buffalo of more than six feet of snow were staggering. There will be more storms to greet many of us in the days, weeks, and months to follow.
Snow can be very dangerous — both in the way it accumulates and in the conditions it creates through icy roads, falling trees, and severed power lines. But it is also incredibly beautiful. When a fresh blanket of snow drapes over the landscape, it turns familiar features into new vistas, unique and ultimately fleeting.
So before too many of us are cursing the need to shovel out cars, clear the sidewalk, or trudge through the slush in our winter boots, we felt we would share a painting by Monet and a poem from Dickinson celebrating the wonderful ability of snow to allow us to see the familiar as a boundless new reality.
A notable feature of this poem is that its topic — “snow” — is never stated. It is only defined as “it.” But there is no mistaking what Dickinson is summoning forth with her evocative words.
It sifts from Leaden Sieves
It sifts from Leaden Sieves -
It powders all the Wood.
It fills with Alabaster Wool
The Wrinkles of the Road -
It makes an even Face
Of Mountain, and of Plain -
Unbroken Forehead from the East
Unto the East again -
It reaches to the Fence -
It wraps it Rail by Rail
Till it is lost in Fleeces -
It deals Celestial Vail
To Stump, and Stack - and Stem -
A Summer’s empty Room -
Acres of Joints, where Harvests were,
Recordless, but for them -
It Ruffles Wrists of Posts
As Ankles of a Queen -
Then stills its Artisans - like Ghosts -
Denying they have been -
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Once again you guys nailed it. I am a southern Californian by birth, and have never lived in a four-season area of the country. Perhaps that has formed my love for "snowscapes". Sure, I could go up to one of the resorts in our local mountains, but they are too "peopley" to really appreciate the peace and gentleness of a snow-filled landscape like the one Monet painted. Looking at Monet's work, it reminds me to think about the resilience of life itself, Yes, the magpie still flies, but beneath the snow, the earth waits for spring, not dead, but sleeping.
Thank you Dan Rather and Elliot, from rural Montana, for this beautiful painting and poem today -so very calming and peaceful. A friend, Kathy, subscribed me for one year to this newsletter for Thanksgiving this year. Her gracious gift, and your eloquent gift of this Monet/Dickenson duet today, as well as your newsletters and this community have already enriched my days and have opened my heart. I have never seen this Monet Magpie painting before. I will be ordering a print soon. I rehabilitated a young wounded Magpie over the summer, 'Maggie-nificent'. She flew back into the wild except for a few rare visits to the front step now and then. There she was today in the Monet painting -I felt so happy:) She will sit on a tree limb or a fence post this winter, her first long winter, and feel the hush of a new blanket of white snow under the great blue sky. Again, Thank you! Lisa