Mia Capone

Dr. Ferreira

Intro to Poetry

Poet Project

April 28, 2017

Jane Hirshfields poetry is well known for themes such as awareness, consciousness, and

shifting of perception. In her poem, A Chair in The Snow, the speaker portrays a mood of

sadness and loneliness for a chair that is sitting outside in the snow. The speaker discusses the

intended use for the chair and how it does not fulfill that intent. She uses the elements of form,

enjambment, imagery, personification, symbolism, and diction to express this melancholy mood

to the reader and to give the poem more depth. Each of these combined conveys the sorrow and

isolation the speaker observes of the chair.

Poetic form is understood as the physical structure of a poem. It deals with line lengths,

rhythms, rhyme, among other things. The form used in the poem A Chair in The Snow is

called Free Verse. Free Verse does not use consistent patterns such as meter or rhyme scheme

and therefore makes a poem less structured. It gives off a natural flow of speech and the

impression that the thoughts are all coming to the speaker as he or she writes. It is used to break

away from the sing-songy verse of traditional poetry and allows the reader to see reality in the

text. The reality in this particular poem is the loneliness and sadness that is being experienced.

There is no sugar coating this sorrow with clever form, it is raw and real, just as the sorrow and

isolation felt in the poem are raw and real human emotions. The use of this particular form also

contributes to the theme because free verse is so varying that it can be its own form of isolation.
There is no unifying scheme, allowing each line to stand independently, which can be isolating.

Free verse is very expressive, making it much more personal. There are no limitations and the

poet can make it anything she wants it to be, and in the case of this poem it contributes to an

overall melancholy, isolated mood.

Also used in this poem is the poetic element of enjambment. Enjambment is the running

over of a phrase or sentence from one line to the next without terminal punctuation. The use of

enjambment in this poem is primarily for emphasis. A reader will pay more attention to an

enjambed line. It also propels the reader forward, making him or her wonder and question what

the author will put on the next line. An example of this in the poem is in the first stanza. Line one

reads A chair in the snow and line two reads should be. The speaker then goes on to explain,

but not without creating a tension. The enjambment places emphasis upon the words should

be. The speaker is trying to get the point across that this is what a chair is supposed to be, but

not necessarily what the chair he or she is observing actually is. This helps to convey sadness and

hopelessness because the chair is possibly not living up to its expectations. Line nine says

simply, to hold. This emphasizes the chairs sole purpose: to hold others. Since it is in the

snow, presumably somebody is not sitting in this chair and this makes the chair lonely and

useless. The enjambment usage in this poem primarily serves to pull out specific parts of the

poem the speaker wants the reader to pay attention to in order to understand the overarching

theme.

Imagery and personification are very prevalent elements in this poem. The speaker paints

a picture that allows the reader to imagine the scene of the poem. In the first stanza, it says that a

chair in the snow should be rounded and whited. One can imagine a chair, or anything covered in

snow right after a big storm. There is a certain quiet solitude that comes along with being outside
in the snow, everything feels separate and one can truly feel alone. The imagery of a bed, house,

and hat is also there to juxtapose this cold, sad, lonely image. These three things are associated

with warmth and comfort and serve the speakers intentions to help the reader imagine the chair.

While imagining the chair, personification is used in the poem to help a reader connect to the

inanimate object on a personal level. It is the attribution of a personal nature or human

characteristics to something nonhuman. Line five in the poem says and yet a chair in the snow

is always sad. Applying this human- like quality to something that is unable to feel human

emotion gives the reader a deeper understanding of the meaning of the poem. This obviously

helps to convey the theme of sadness, for the chair is literally feeling sadness. The reader can

truly understand the viewpoint of this sad, lonely chair through personification.

Symbolism and diction are important characteristics in poetry. Symbolism is the use of

symbols to signify ideas and qualities by giving them symbolic meanings that are different from

their literal sense. An example of this is the symbol of snow in this poem. Often in literature,

snow is used to represent sadness, bleakness, or death. In the case of this poem it serves to

symbolize sadness and solitude. When there is snow there is typically no life outdoors. The trees

and plants are dead and animals are hibernating. There is this depression and loneliness due to

the absence of life. Snow blankets the world and removes it from life. It cushions sound and

creates a quiet, lonely world. The chair is simply a symbol for loneliness. It is alone, not

accompanied by anything. No flowers, no people, just snow. It contrasts with the symbols the

bed, hat, and house. While they contribute to imagery in the poem, they also embody warmth and

comfort as symbols. These things are not as sad because they are typically warm accompanied by

people, whereas the chair outside is alone, cold, and unwelcoming. Diction is also quite

important in this poem. It is the choice and use of words in writing. The speaker makes
interesting choices in this poem that help to convey the theme. For example, the speaker uses the

words whited and shaped when describing a chair. These words are chosen carefully to

display the fact that things happen TO the chair- it is not actively doing any of these things. The

idea that the chair is powerless contributes to the sorrow and loneliness of the poem. The chair

does not have the independence to do actions on its own and must allow things to happen to it

without choice. Lack of independence or freedom is certainly a reason for sadness and can be

read as so in this poem. In the third stanza, it says more than a bed more than a hat or a house.

The use of the word more in this poem creates a further isolation for this chair. None of the other

objects share the same experience as this chair, putting it in a category by itself, something that

can be very lonely. Both symbolism and diction serve to contribute to the poems overarching

theme of sadness and loneliness.

The poem A Chair in The Snow by Jane Hirshfield is about a lone chair sitting out in

the snow. It depicts a mood of sadness, loneliness, and sorrow. In order to accurately convey

these moods Hirshfield employs poetic elements such as form, enjambment, imagery,

personification, symbolism, and diction. Each of these elements contributes to the theme and

help to provide the reader with a deeper understanding of the meaning behind A Chair in The

Snow. Careful analysis allows for a reader to relate and truly comprehend how the elements

mentioned help to create such a melancholy, solitary mood throughout the poem.