Boy at the Window

Boy at the Window
Jen Weaver
ENG125
Michelle Pinkard
January 23, 2012

    Snowflakes.  Soup.  Snowballs.  The poem “Boy at the Window” conjures images of all of these things as it draws the audience in to a winter scene.  Through the use of irony, personification and rhyme, Richard Wilbur captivated my attention and provoked memories of my own winter experiences.

    Wilbur wrote "Boy at the Window" after seeing how distressed his five–year–old son was about a snowman they had built (Clugston, 2010, Section 9.1).  The poem is written from the perspective of a 3rd party observer, such as Wilbur, watching a boy who is inside, looking at the snowman outside of the house.  I enjoyed the irony of the scene, as the child seems upset that the snowman cannot come inside, even though it is the warm indoors that would be the snowman’s ruin.  It is obvious that the boy is upset by the growing storm, “the small boy weeps to hear the wind prepare, a night of gnashings” and it seems to him that the snowman returns his gaze with “a God-forsaken stare” (Clugston, 2010, Section 9.1).  Yet it is from the perspective of the snowman that we learn why the boy is unhappy.  After reading only the first stanza of the poem, it seems the boy could be upset over any number of things.  Perhaps he wishes he was outside still playing in the snow?  Perhaps he is concerned that the snowman feels lonely?  Yet the snowman informs us that he is “content, having no wish to go inside and die” (Clugston, 2010, Section 9.1).  How ironic that the warmth the boy wishes for the snowman would melt him away to a puddle of water.  If the boy were to have his wish and move the snowman inside, the snowman would be worse off for the kindness.  This irony also plays well to the subject of the poem as it highlights the child’s innocent ignorance, to desire good but not realize that his ideal scenario would in fact bring harm to this “man of snow” (Clugston, 2010, Section 9.1).

    Wilbur continues to entertain the reader through the use of personification, almost as if we are seeing the snowman as the child sees him.  I can relate to this scenario personally, since as a child, I can recall wishing that the snowman I crafted in my yard would be “Frosty the Snowman” and would come alive to play with me.  Frosty is only enjoyable to a child, as pointed out in Shanley’s Doubt: A Parable “The snowman comes to life when an enchanted hat is put on his head.  If the music were more somber, people would realize the images are disturbing and the song heretical” (Shanley, 2008, P. 41.)  Yet to a child, these images are full of wonder and excitement, to think that the friend they playfully crafted could come to life and play with them!  To an adult this is an impossibility, an absurdity and potentially even a nightmare, yet to a child it is a wonderful experience worth imagining and wishing for.  When reading “Boy at the Window” from this perspective, it is much easier to relate to the pain the child experiences and to be drawn in by the response of the snowman who is witnessing his turmoil.

    The personification of inanimate balls of snow again speaks to the childish nature of the poem and to the subject as the snowman was seen  as a “pale-faced figure” to return a stare and is even moved to shed a tear, “moved to see the youngster cry” (Clugston, 2010, Section 9.1).  Not only does the snowman take on physical attributes as a human, but he contains and then portrays emotional responses.  As if Wilbur can imagine the snowman to be alive in the same way his son has.  This portrayal puts me as the reader in this same perspective as I find myself picturing the snowman watching the boy inside the house and crying at his pain, an image that holds no reality yet is easy to imagine nonetheless.  This perspective also caused me to consider the value imagination holds for our children.  This boy, although he was worked up over nothing, experienced pain and expressed concern and emotion; attributes that will be valuable to his personal development.  According to Duffy imagination enables children to respond to a rapidly changing world, including adapting to change and empathizing with others (Duffy, 2006, P.25).  While the boy’s response could be seen as dramatic, he is moved on behalf of the snowman and this scenario sheds light into his developing character as a human being.

    Finally, the use of rhyme ties the poem together nicely, again with a nod to the childhood focus of the piece.  Rhyme is the “similarity in the sound of stressed syllables in words at the end of lines of poetry” (Clugston, 2010, Section 9.4).  In “Boy at the Window” Wilbur stresses the syllables so every other word rhymes, such as:
    Seeing the snowman standing all alone
    In dusk and cold is more than he can bear.
    The small boy weeps to hear the wind prepare
    A night of gnashings and enormous moan. (Clugston, 2010, Section 9.1).
I found the use of rhyme to relate to the boy in the poem as many childhood poems also rhyme and tend to evoke a “sing-song quality” about them.

    In consideration of the poem as a whole, I do not believe I would have related to the poem as much if it did not contain these elements.  I found this poem to be entirely relatable to my past experiences as a child and the entire work seemed to be catered to a child-like perspective, which I much appreciated.  They caused me to really consider the scenario from the characters point of view, and provoked a sweet moment in reflection of the innocence of a child and his imagination. Reference



Resources
Clugston, R. Wayne. Journey Into Literature. Ed. Erik Evans. Constellation Bookshelf.
     Ashford University, 2010. Web. 22 Jan. 2012. <https://content.ashford.edu/books
     /AUENG125.10.2/sections/copyright>.

Duffy, Bernadette. Supporting Creativity and Imagination in the Early Years
     (2nd Edition). McGraw-Hill Education, 2006. Web.  23 Jan. 2012.
     http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ashford/docDetail.action?docID=10161333&
     p00=imagination%20children

Shanley, John Patrick. Doubt: A Parable. Theatre Communications Group, 2008.
     Web. 22 Jan.2012.  http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ashford/docDetail.action?docID
     =10330712&p00=%22frosty%20the%20snowman%22