THE SNOWMAN

THE SNOWMAN-By Wallace Stevens.
One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;
And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter
Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,
Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place
For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.

As most of us know by now, Stevens talked a lot about perceptions and reality. I believe what he is trying to tell us in the Snowman is that one must have a mind of winter and be like the snowman to see the winter scenery as it is, not as we perceive it. He uses descriptive words that make us think of cold misery, and a barren winter landscape. Imagine what a snowman, with his mind of winter would see if he could actually see. We develop our minds of winter and set aside our notions and prejudices to the world. Stevens uses his themes of weather and seasons to do this. Without thoughts or perceptions what we view is nothing.
I think also one could interpret this poem (or at least I could) as a way of thinking about death. The winter is the dying season of the earth, and death is viewed by us mortals as misery, but if we had the mind of winter we could view it simply as it is. With a mind of winter we wouldn't need to be afraid or reassure ourselves, we who are "nothing" (at least compared to the planet) would be able to see the nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.