Discussion. 1. Why does the poet personify “The Frost”? 2. What pictures do the following give you: “powdered its crest”; “their boughs he dressed”? 3. What picture of the window pane does stanza 3 give you? 4. Which line tells you on what kind of night to expect frost?
Phrases
THE FROST SPIRIT
JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER
He comes—he comes—the Frost Spirit comes! You may trace his footsteps now
On the naked woods and the [blasted fields] and the brown hill’s withered brow.
He has smitten the leaves of the gray old trees where their pleasant green came forth,
And the winds, which follow wherever he goes, have shaken them down to earth.