The Blizzard Poem Theme

The poem "The Blizzard" by Phillis Levin exemplifies and contains a lot of depth in its meaning. The poem is about a blizzard in a city, but it ends up talking a lot about themes of rebirth, darkness and light, the circle of life, and the desire to escape.

The first major theme that the poem talks about and goes into depth about is rebirth. This is seen many times throughout the poem. It happens through people’s mindsets and outlooks towards others and life. In the beginning of the poem, the worst of the blizzard has passed, and people are reflecting on their behavior. People were stocking up on supplies and thinking the worst; the city was cold and lifeless. The commonly bustling streets of NYC were empty, and people had a chance to recognize

Before the blizzard, people took advantage of daily commodities and the actual presence of people in their lives. The blizzard reset their mindset, though; it shut everything down and forced people to be confined to themselves in isolation. It made some realize that their actual desires far outweigh the actual necessities of human life. Conversations and interactions people had with each other brought life and rebirth to someone’s mentality and day. The value of interactions became so heavily amplified that people’s hearts and focus went to preparing new vocabulary and topics. People prepared vocabulary for conversations like they did before with food for the storm. The food was prepared so that people could keep to themselves and stay buried, but the vocabulary was prepared for people to be intrigued and interested in talking. All of these instances in the poem that show rebirth can lead to the last two lines of the poem, which end up relieving the themes of reunion, hope, and time. The narrator has come to this revelation about human beings and

This is one of the main themes of the poem because it is written to represent the cycle of life and grief in other ways. As this poem starts out, people are driven to become self-dependent, anxious people. They are preparing for the worst of the blizzard, which is far worse in their heads than the actual reality of their situation. This is a stage of darkness, and as the city’s emergency protocol states, "As last night’s snow: damage assessment, evacuation, emergency management," it was a damage assessment. But the damage had been done, done to the people of the city; it overwhelmed them with fear and the looming reality of tragedy and destruction. The self-dependency then brings a desire to escape. People decide to hide, bringing them away from the cold and harsh conditions of the city into the illusive warmth and comfort of their home. Sleep would be a person's evacuation and escape from reality. The second phase of the city’s emergency protocol was evacuation. Once the cycle of the wind shifted, people emerged; they had managed to survive. The time alone let out much emotion, and the absence of intrusive thoughts and clouding emotions left a common hole in everyone’s heart. It left space for love and care. The routine shifted, and they realized that relying on each other would benefit all. Managing our time to make time for others and to truly listen to them and the stories of their lives will fill