Snow-Bound

John Greenleaf WhittierProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.0

Word count: 30K words
Chapters: 4

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Snow-Bound by John Greenleaf WhittierAuthor: Whittier, John Greenleaf, 1807-1892,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Dec 30, 2006

Editor's review

Snow-Bound is a representative long poem by the American poet John Greenleaf Whittier. Centered on the memory of a winter day when a New England household is snowed in, it paints a warm picture of family members gathered around the hearth. In plain and restrained strokes, Whittier writes of ordinary people and rural life; the poem offers both close observation of nature and a tender backward glance at days gone by, carrying a strong air of nostalgia and domestic morality. Widely circulated among nineteenth-century American poems, it is often regarded as a typical text reflecting New England local life. For readers who wish to know the character of nineteenth-century American poetry, or who are drawn to poems of rural life and family, this is a moderately long and emotionally sincere volume. The English original has a regular meter and is well suited to slow reading and reading aloud.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Chinese readers interested in nineteenth-century American poetry
Readers who enjoy poetry of rural life, family, and nostalgia
Students of English and American literature in need of a New England regional text
Learners who wish to feel the rhythm of English poetry through reading aloud

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer modern free verse or contemporary poetry
Readers with little experience of English poetry who are unwilling to look up background information
Readers expecting strong plot narrative or dramatic turns

Reading tips

First read the whole poem to grasp the overall picture of the winter hearth, then return to the details.
Try reading several passages aloud to feel the effect of the regular meter and calm tone.
As you read, note the specific descriptions of family members and rural life to understand the source of the nostalgic feeling.
Background material on nineteenth-century New England rural life may be helpful.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What is this poem mainly about?

The long poem is set against a snowstorm that traps a family in their country house; it describes winter days around the hearth and interweaves memories of family members and rural life. In plain strokes it presents family warmth and days gone by with a clear nostalgic coloring, and it is a representative of Whittier's regional poetry.

Can readers with only a basic grounding in English poetry understand it?

The diction is generally plain, but the meter is regular and the expression follows nineteenth-century habits; readers with a basic level may need notes and a dictionary. It is advisable first to grasp the overall scene of the poem, then read it closely passage by passage, without insisting on understanding every allusion and background detail at once.

Why is this poem often treated as representative of New England literature?

Because it takes winter life in the New England countryside as its concrete setting; the people, the dwelling, and the natural scenery all bear distinct local features, while it also expresses universal feelings about family and days gone by. This combination of the local and the universal makes it often used in discussion of nineteenth-century American regional literature.

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About the author

John Greenleaf Whittier Author · American · 1807–1892

John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) was an American poet and abolitionist, a Quaker, and one of the nineteenth-century "Fireside Poets," born in Haverhill, Massachusetts. He devoted himself early to the anti-slavery cause, edited several abolitionist newspapers, and gave voice to the movement in verse collected in volumes such as the Anti-Slavery Poems. His poetry ranges widely: the narrative poem Snow-Bound depicts New England country life and family memory in plain, homely language, while other works include nature poems, subjective and reminiscent pieces, religious poems, and legendary narrative poems such as The Tent on the Beach. His writing is simple and warm in feeling, marked by strong local color and moral concern. The library holds 44 of his works. Public information is limited, so this note gives only the main points of his life and writing.