Who Is John Greenleaf Whittier Snowbound

Through the unforgiving, cold wrath of Winter, this time of year has historically become synonymous with hardships and suffering, though despite the lack of modern of technology, some may still find a winter paradise where most only see a frozen wasteland. Author John Greenleaf Whittier is one such person, and through his written work, his audience can see the beauty of this bitter season through his own eyes. Living before the year 1900, when furnished and heated homes were not yet reality, this writer was still able to appreciate copious amounts of snow, and unrelenting, freezing winds. In an excerpt from “Snowbound,” Whittier illustrates how he can find comfort in the isolation and oppression of a harsh winter through cheerful personification, intriguing metaphors, and descriptive, tone-setting diction, and other experiences he has in “a universe of sky and snow,” (53).

Whether it be the sun “rising cheerless,” or the “roar” of the ocean, this figure of speech fabricates a rather charming mood. The narrator claims that, “The great throat of the chimney laughed” (164), while he and his family sit around the fire. Of course, a chimney cannot laugh. Instead the meaning lies within the figurative end of this statement. The cheerful image that the author gives to the chimney directly reflects the feelings of the narrator. The narrator doesn’t view his chimney, his home, and himself as exhausted and freezing, but rather quite the opposite. He is content in front of the fire, no fear, frustration, or discomfort is ever mentioned within the stanzas of this poem. The narrator, and therefore Whittier, is beyond satisfied with being bound within the walls of his home. The reader can imagine a single, illuminated house standing against the falling snow. As the chimney laughs, the smoke rises against the endless white, with a cheerfulness the narrator considers