London Snow

by Robert Bridges
L.O. using all the tools and skills acquired so far to analyse the
second IGCSE poem

On entry – solve the POETIC riddle:

I am small as an ant and big as a whale,

I can soar through the air like a bird with a
tail.
I can be seen by day and not by night,
I can be seen with a big flash of light.
I follow whoever controls me by the sun,
but I fade away when dark fell like a ton.

What am I?
Before we read the poem
What emotions and ideas do the following images
evoke in you?
First reading
Let’s read ‘London Snow’ and write down your first
response

How does the poem make you feel?

Do you understand what the poem is about?
Do you recognise what is being described?
The poet – Robert Bridges
(23 October 1844 – 21 April 1930)
Offering some context to the poem

Bridges was a Victorian poet who by choice remained

apart from the aesthetic movements (art for art’s
sake) of his day, Robert Bridges was a classicist
(sticking to more traditional forms).
Bridges’ work has had great influence in a select circle,
by its restraint, purity, precision and delicacy yet
strength of expression.
Task 1
In pairs

Re-read the poem (use a dictionary for any

words you might not know!)
Answer the questions on the hand-out
Are you
ready to
Be ready to share your answersshare?
with the
class!
 Language / poetic devices to take note
of  imagery
Annotate your poem if you haven’t done so yet

Bridges uses a lot of beautiful imagery making us

feel / see / hear / taste the snow he is
describing in his poem. Can you find some Types of image
ry:
Auditory – he
examples of this? ar
Visual – see
Although snow in Victorian England was not Tactile - touch
Gustatory – ta
ste
uncommon, his use of imagery turns it into Organic – inte
rnal
sensation
something special and makes the reader share
Olfactory - sm
ell
his sense of wonder. It is as if even he was
asleep when it was falling and we are surprised
with him by this ‘miracle’.
 Language / poetic devices to take note
of  alliteration & adjectives
Annotate your poem if you haven’t done so yet!

Bridges enhances his initial depiction of the snow falling with

alliteration: ‘Stealthily and perpetually, settling and loosely
lying… Into angles and crevices softly drifting and sailing.’
Then he uses a series of adjectives to illustrate the silence of
the snow as it “silently sifting, roof and railing….” The
noisy, multi-cultural city becomes a single radiant silence;
and the diversity of buildings, a single vision. “Unevenness”
turns “even," conflict turns to peace, and blemishes are
banished.
 Language / poetic devices to take note
of  metaphors
Annotate your poem if you haven’t done so yet!
After the children have gone out (mind that they are the first who
dare!) the rest of civilization begins to venture out into the
“white-mossed wonder” [metaphor - moss to snow].
The author also employs a metaphor for the adults who do not play
in the snow as the children do; ‘war is waged with the snow’ is how
they go.
‘Trains of somber men’ [metaphor used compares the men as they
walk in single line to a train], find it difficult to conquer the snow,
but the snowfall’s beauty temporarily rids their minds of their
worries, although they are the ones that break ‘the charm’.
Structure / style of the poem
Add one last note to your annotation

What do you notice about the poem’s structure?

Think of…
• (Lack) of stanzas
• Rhyme
• Repetition
• Use of quotations

What is the effect of these structure / style elements?

Using all this knowledge for your final
analysis of the poem

How does the poem make the reader feel about snow
and how does the poet manage to do this?

Does everyone in your table group feel the same way

about the poem and its topic?
Task 2
Let’s get creative!

Write short poem about a time when

you experienced extreme weather.
What happened and how did you /
people around you feel?