We are well into December and have had our first few snowfalls! Snow has an enormous amount of poetic value, and so for this week's Poetry Pie we will consider a few poems that include snow as one of its images. Enjoy!

Psalm 147

The Bible

This is one of the few psalms that include snow as one of its images, making it all the more interesting as we come across it. This is a poem of thanksgiving, a nature psalm praising God for his management of Creation. The stars, the clouds and rain, the ravens and the seasons all owe their existence to him. He is the one who brings the mighty winter snow, and it is he who melts that snow into the rivers of Spring.

I particularly love the image of God scattering snow over the earth as we might scatter crumbs off our tables onto the floor.

He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs;
who can stand before his cold?

Note how the psalm turns on a dime from this Winter-to-Spring transition (v16-18) to a statement about his word being declared to Israel (v19). This makes for wonderful connections between God's command over nature and his loving command over his people.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Robert Frost (1874-1963)

Robert Frost is a master of nature poetry, many of which include snow as an ingredient. He has the ability to construct poems that are seemingly simple, yet thoroughly enjoyable to exist within. This poem does not contain any profound truths, any controversial takes, or any theological treatise. It is just a picture. And because that's all that it is, it can be that to a wonderful degree. Read this and simply enjoy living within its world.

Simple poems are not simple to write. This poem is written in an uncomplicated iambic tetrameter, a meter which is not broken once throughout. It is a testament to the fact that strict meter doesn't need to be boring as many modern poets will claim.

A Christmas Carol

Christina Rosetti (1830—1894)

The poem is better known as the text to the "In the Bleak Midwinter" hymn, and it is a great poem to read as we are approaching Christmas. In summary, it is providing the marvelous contrast between the home of God in Heaven, and the home that He came to in this poor world. The God who cannot be contained with all of Heaven, who is worshipped by the mightiest beings of Creation, is now found in a lowly manger, surrounded by animals, hay, and his mother. Don't let your familiarity with the hymn blind you to the wonder to be found within it!

An Unseen Vision

Abram Newcomer

I wrote this poem in college as an assignment in a poetry course that I took. The poem is written as a villanelle, which is a form that contains two repeated lines that are cycled throughout the poem. Note how lines 1 and 3 are alternatingly repeated as the ends of the remaining stanzas (they are not exact repetitions, but they contain the same general phrasing). The most popular example of the villanelle is Dylan Thomas' "Do Not Go Gently into That Good Night", probably one of the most well-known modern poems of our time.

The scene was inspired by one of my many evening walks from the upper campus of Grove City College to my apartment on the lower campus. During these winter walks I took great interest (and delight) in how the lamps shed light on the snow being swirled around by the wind. Wind is invisible, but the snow gave it a visible presence.

I hope you enjoyed these poems! Feel free to share/comment other snow-themed poems that aren't included above.