Blizzard

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1978

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Themes

Abundance and Fluidity of Nature

At its heart, “Blizzard” is a poem that glorifies the natural world as fluid and powerful. The speaker characterizes the natural phenomena of the blizzard at first as somewhat clumsy, but ultimately it becomes increasingly powerful and demonstrates its abundance. Most obviously, a blizzard is made up of an abundance of snowflakes and gusts of wind. A hive is full of an abundance of bees. An “alphabet” (Line 46) is made up of all of the letters in language. “Pointillis[m]” (Line 20) is made up of the abundance of different dots of color that add up to a whole. In this poem, the speaker suggests that nature is abundant, and because it is made up of infinite smaller parts, it can be more fluid and powerful. The snow is not characterized as rigid or having its own agenda but rather as “shaping” (Line 23) itself to the will of other objects. Likewise, art can be fluid and powerful. It is these small things added together—small choices, small actions, small adjustments—that make consequential changes.

Abundance and Fluidity of the Human Imagination

The speaker does not say it outright, but presumably she is an artist. Her characterizations of the natural world demonstrate nature’s effect on her imagination. It arouses not just one but many associations. The abundance of nature triggers greater creative flow of her mind—itself a product of nature. The multiple similes and metaphors the speaker makes out of her observations mimic a “blizzard” of creative thought. Idea after idea appears down the column of short lines, much the way that many snowflakes add up to a snowstorm. The way the poem shifts at the end, from activity to stillness, demonstrates how exposure to the natural world affects the artist. The blizzard coats the landscape with snow until it becomes an “alphabet / of silence” (Lines 46-47), and this mimics the way that the speaker fills her page with mental associations, a “blizzard” of words, until she has nothing more to say, tires, and prepares to sleep.

The Danger and Tranquility of Nature

“Blizzard” paints a picture of the natural world falling in on itself. At times, the imagery is cataclysmic. The “moon could be / breaking” (Line 26-27). The “white bear” (Line 30) is “splitting the hive” (Line 31) and letting loose the snow, which acts like bees “stinging the air” (Line 38)—yet, the poem’s last image is that of a woman sleeping under a “comforter” (Line 40) of snow as the “alphabet / of silence / falls out of the / sky” (Lines 46-49). The poem moves through observations of the dangerous quality of the snowstorm into its eventual tranquility. In the last line, when the speaker uses the snow as a blanket, the tone becomes more fully calm. This is also a final melding of the natural and the human-made world; the snow becomes something humans use—specifically to help them fall asleep. The storm moves from being dangerous to non-threatening, even soothing. The speaker moves from being an observer of the storm to being part of the natural world, in a sense burying herself inside of the snow. This movement depicts the range of qualities of the natural world, from interfering to enhancing the life of the human-made world.

Although it is strange to think of snow, which is cold and wet, as a “comforter” (Line 40), which is meant to warm people, a landscape full of snow does resemble a comforter: It is thick, and it covers a landscape. Snow also helps to muffle sounds. While it may be a sign of inhospitable temperatures, it is very useful for creating that “alphabet / of silence” (Lines 46 and 47) that the speaker describes in the last lines. The figurative language of “tumbl[ing]” (Line 43) into sleep suggests the speaker is not sleeping inside her human-made house but inside the snow, making herself part of the natural world like a hibernating bear. Being part of this natural world makes the speaker, like nature, fluid, creative, and ultimately able to experience the peace of being one with her surroundings.