Poetry Precis #15: "Snow"

In “Snow,” David Berman uses a simple tone and a plot based structure with repetition to display the pure innocence and naivety of a child’s mind and imagination. The poem begins with the speaker telling his brother that the imprints in the snow were actually from “troops of angels who had been shot” and dissolved into the ground. The speaker builds up the imaginative story in response to his brother’s questions, as the younger child really believes in the image his brother had created in his mind. This shows the innocence of a child, because when given an answer to their curiosity by a perceived older and wiser person, they automatically accept it as the truth. The younger brother repeatedly questions his brother about the story, asking, “Why did he shoot them?” and “But why were they on his property?” This shows that his innocence leads him to thinking that the story is true, and wanting to know more and more. Throughout the poem as the speaker continues to create his story, he continues his day as regular, trading “hellos with his neighbor” and shoveling side by side, not giving a second thought to what was going on in the mind of his young brother. To him, he was just making up a fun story, but his brother was discovering a truth that had just been revealed to him, and was completely amazed with this knowledge.  Berman uses this structure and technique to show how children’s innocence and naivety help them form their imaginations and believe everything they hear, just like the younger brother in the poem.


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