tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-607719101484462692.post5946151015669791646..comments2024-01-23T12:27:05.258+00:00Comments on The Stone and the Star: 'The Snow' by Sidney Keyes: "The Earth Not Crying Any More..."Clarissa Aykroydhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08571136118573329263noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-607719101484462692.post-4557619499504231802014-01-06T12:38:42.893+00:002014-01-06T12:38:42.893+00:00Hi Ibrahim - thanks for your comment! I'm glad...Hi Ibrahim - thanks for your comment! I'm glad you liked the poem. <br /><br />The snow is certainly a metaphor for death or the prospect of death here, though I think it could stand for other things that might be confronted with a feeling of dread. The contrast between how he was told it would be, and the cold reality, is very poignant. <br /><br />I think that in the wars, a lot of young men must have found themselves confronted with the feeling that they would not survive. This may have particularly been the case in World War II where they could look back on the horrors of World War I and the deaths of so many. My other favourite World War II poet, Keith Douglas (who died in 1944 at the age of 24), seems almost to have foreseen his own death, in his poems. I think that a lot of this can be attributed to the dark atmosphere of the times and a certain feeling of hopelessness that may have come with it. Douglas was completely different from Keyes in other respects, though - he was quite a tough pragmatic type, while Keyes was obviously very romantic and seems somewhat death-obsessed in any case. But even with their very different styles, both poets certainly have something prophetic about them. Clarissa Aykroydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08571136118573329263noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-607719101484462692.post-16847926015446291112014-01-06T12:26:11.802+00:002014-01-06T12:26:11.802+00:00Hi Clarissa , thanks a lot for bringing to light...Hi Clarissa , thanks a lot for bringing to lights this sad and nice poem . It sounds to me , the snow in this poem , is just a metaphor for death or pre-death hopelessness !!!<br />Of course , this claim could be a loser one , but no doubt , being here is a big win for me...Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12413709046249144828noreply@blogger.com