Richard Wilbur
Title: Boy - young, playful, innocent
At the window - bored, daydreaming, attracted to something
Paraphrase:
Stanza 1 - The boy weeps because a snowman stands alone outside and is about to suffer through a harsh night.
Stanza 2 - The snowman does not want to go inside and melt, but he feels thankful for the boy's worry of him.
Connotation
Snowman - cold and hardened person-literally and emotionally
All alone - he is independent, yet lonely
More than he can bear - the man is suffering outside
Night of gnashings and enormous moan - sufferings for the man outside to face
Fearful sight - afraid of the stranger
Pale-faced figure - sickly
Bitumen - coal
God-forsaken stare - the man is sad and in pain
Outcast Adam gave to paradise - regretful he did not realize fortunes once possessed
Man of snow - the hardened and cold man
Content - takes responsibility for his own action, so he has nothing to complain about
No wish to go inside - man wants to stand up for his choices, and not take donations
Die - death of his self-esteem and morals
Moved to see the youngster cry - thankful for the uncalled for mercy and compassion
Frozen water - though once warm and flowing, now hard and frozen
Element - the man's character and soul
Melts - heart softens
One soft eye - a rare warm, gentle area found with the man
Trickle - very little amount
Purest rain, a tear - though frozen, his soul still has the base-kindness
Bright pane - the separation between the two, why the man and boy are unlike
Such warmth, such light, such love, and so much fear - Though the innocent boy feels sorry for the man, he is still afraid of the stranger.
Attitude: Poet - positive attitude because uses the boy to show compassion no matter who is involved or in what situation. "To see the youngster cry" shows the true pity the boy feels for him.
Speaker - negative because the boy remained fearful like on line 5 where it talks about the boy's "fearful sight" of the man who did not receive any shelter against the dangerous night.
Shifts: 1. Line 9. In the first stanza it seemed like the snowman wished to go inside the house, however in the beginning of the second stanza it says the snowman is content outside.
2. Line 14-15 - line 14 discusses the tears of the snowman, but in line 15 it switches back to the boy watching from inside the window
Title: Boy at the Window - the boy is comfortable inside while being protected by the window, which symbolizes all of the love he has. The love he receives separates him from the cold world outside and the people he feels sorry for in it.
Themes:
Children do not judge who they give they're compassion and mercy to
One should be responsible for his own choices and actions taken
Humans have a fear of the unknown, such as strangers
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