In the poem The Hunter In The Snow by William Carlos ...

[Pages:3]In the poem The Hunter In The Snow by William Carlos Williams, the speaker analyzes the painting Hunters In the Snow by Pieter Brueghel, and finds the main idea to be a struggling of social class during the period in which this takes place and the coldness of it all. This idea is apparent through the references the speaker makes to the wintry, cold landscape, the foreground "pack" of lower class hunters he describes, the middle class "pattern" of skaters, and the "winter-struck bush" seen in the foreground, symbolizing a twisted mess of things caused by the coldness of humanity.

The speaker first states that "The over-all picture is winter/icy mountains/in the background" (1-3). This is an observation of the landscape of this painting, which in its coldness seems to symbolize the human condition of chilled attitudes toward each other. His mention of the "hunt it is toward evening/from the left/sturdy hunters lead in/ their pack"(4-7) sets the mood of the poem, saying that it is now evening, bringing out a darker side to the tone of the poem and the painting. It also brings attention to the lower class hunters coming home from a long day of hunting. Seeing as they are the first beings mentioned in the poem and one of the first figures to attract the eye in the painting, they are the main focus.

The speaker's next intention is to bring attention to "the inn-sign/hanging from a/broken hinge is a stag a crucifix/between his antlers the cold/inn yard is/deserted but for a huge bonfire/ that flares wind-driven tended by/women who cluster/about it"(7-15). These lines set the scene of the lower class women warming around a fire in a deserted inn-yard. The word "deserted" seems to apply to the desertion of the middle-upper class people of the painting/poem. The speaker sees a crucifix hanging above them from the broken inn-sign, seemingly implying their virtue and their inner superiority over the rich "pattern of skaters/"(16). The contrast between the "pattern" of these people and the "pack" of hunters is important because a pattern is basically a set arrangement of designs, many times for purposes of neatness and pretty arrangements, while a pack evokes pictures of closeness and animalistic intentions. Perhaps the speaker is trying to imply that the poor are looked down upon as a group of animals at the time of this painting, while the rich are perfect and beautiful people.

Lastly, the painter mentions how "Brueghel the painter/concerned with it all has chosen/ a winter-struck bush for his/foreground to/complete the picture//" (17-21). The speaker is telling us to look at the importance of this bush that is in the foreground of the picture, which is dead center and large, and one of the first things your eye is drawn to. This bush symbolizes the twisted view that humanity placed on social classes, and the coldness of humanity that made this society so gnarled.

In conclusion, the people portrayed on the canvas and in the poem place way too much importance on this issue of classes that it divides them, and their ideas of inhumane coldness towards one another turn into a tangled mess. Many innocent people are looked down upon as animalistic because they haven't any money, even though their virtue might be greater than those beautiful people with a superfluous amount of money.

October 14, 2007 at 4:43 PM

Doris T5 said...

The Depiction of Two Lifestyles

In the poem The Hunters in the Snow, by William Carlos Williams, the author conveys a setting of two different lifestyles in his analyzing of Pieter Brueghel's painting Hunters in the Snow. The speaker provides the audience a view of two clashing social classes, the peasants or workers and the rich. This idea is evident when the author mentions the bush in the foreground, the setting of the painting, and the use of words like "pattern" and "pack" to display the two lifestyles of social classes.

The poem starts out by stating the setting, as "the over-all picture is winter/icy mountains/in the background"(1-3). This quote depicts the landscape of Brueghel's painting. Just like all of the other paintings by Brueghel, this one too displays nature and the life of hardworking people. The hardworking people in this case are the hunters and the women in the foreground next to the fire. Williams refers to the lower class as a "pack" meaning a group of people sticking together. Also in the painting is a "pack" of wild dogs. So Williams relates the pack of people to the pack of animals. In truth both are similar in the way they work and fight to live. Peasants work hard to achieve greatness and are faced with many obstacles. Lower class men strive to achieve to have what upper class men posses. Like people, animals fight for lives as well. They fight to live. The people in the foreground attract the viewer more than what is in the background because the people are depicted as large and also are painted in dark colors.

The other lifestyle or class shown is the upper or middle class. The author writes, "the hill is a pattern of skaters"(16). In the painting the skaters are far in the background. They symbolize freedom and the thought of never having any hardships to face. The skaters are enjoying the winter scenery while the peasants see the season as another obstacle in their will to survive. Williams in his writing refers to the rich, as a "pattern". A pattern is most likely anything fashioned or designed to be guide for something made. The skaters are all on the ice symbolizing an arrangement of these people to the pack on the hill. Both groups are together but in different parts of the painting.

Finally Williams also sees a sense of division between these two groups of people in the painting. He writes, "Brueghel the painter/concerned with it all has chosen//a winter-struck bush for his foreground"(18-20). These bushes that are placed purposely by Brueghel, symbolizes the division of the two groups or lifestyles depicted in the painting. Williams mentions in the poem that the bushes are put in to complete the picture to emphasize Brueghel's separation of the two lifestyles or social classes. Brueghel purposely places the bush right in the middle of the painting, between where the hill ends and the field or ice begins. The use of black to represent theses buses also provides Williams with the incentive of separation.

In conclusion Williams explication of the painting provides the audience with a sense power and differences between two very diverse social classes. Williams writing shows this diversity by pointing out the most mundane and miniscule object in the painting. Also the author's use of words to describe the social classes is symbolized in Brueghel's painting as well. This poem is one of many where Williams explicates Brueghel"s paintings and each poem or painting Williams sees as a portrait of Brueghel's thoughts and images.

In the poem The Hunter In The Snow by William Carlos Williams, the speaker analyzes the painting Hunters In the Snow by Pieter Brueghel, and finds the main idea to be a struggling of social class during the period in which this takes place and the coldness of it all. This idea is apparent through the references the speaker makes to the wintry, cold landscape, the foreground "pack" of lower class hunters he describes, the middle class "pattern" of skaters, and the "winter-struck bush" seen in the foreground, symbolizing a twisted mess of things caused by the coldness of humanity. The speaker first states that "The over-all picture is winter/icy mountains/in the background" (1-3). This is an observation of the landscape of this painting, which in its coldness seems to symbolize the human condition of chilled attitudes toward each other. His mention of the "hunt it is toward evening/from the left/sturdy hunters lead in/ their pack"(4-7) sets the mood of the poem, saying that it is now evening, bringing out a darker side to the tone of the poem and the painting. It also brings attention to the lower class hunters coming home from a long day of hunting. Seeing as they are the first beings mentioned in the poem and one of the first figures to attract the eye in the painting, they are the main focus. The speaker's next intention is to bring attention to "the inn-sign/hanging from a/broken hinge is a stag a crucifix/between his antlers the cold/inn yard is/deserted but for a huge bonfire/ that flares wind-driven tended by/women who cluster/about it"(7-15). These lines set the scene of the lower class women warming around a fire in a deserted inn-yard. The word "deserted" seems to apply to the desertion of the middle-upper class people of the painting/poem. The speaker sees a crucifix hanging above them from the broken inn-sign, seemingly implying their virtue and their inner superiority over the rich "pattern of skaters/"(16). The contrast between the "pattern" of these people and the "pack" of hunters is important because a pattern is basically a set arrangement of designs, many times for purposes of neatness and pretty arrangements, while a pack evokes pictures of closeness and animalistic intentions. Perhaps the speaker is trying to imply that the poor are looked down upon as a group of animals at the time of this painting, while the rich are perfect and beautiful people. Lastly, the painter mentions how "Brueghel the painter/concerned with it all has chosen/ a winter-struck bush for his/foreground to/complete the picture//" (17-21). The speaker is telling us to look at the importance of this bush that is in the foreground of the picture, which is dead center and large, and one of the first things your eye is drawn to. This bush symbolizes the twisted view that humanity placed on social classes, and the coldness of humanity that made this society so gnarled. In conclusion, the people portrayed on the canvas and in the poem place way too much importance on this issue of classes that it divides them, and their ideas of inhumane coldness towards one another turn into a tangled mess. Many innocent people are looked down upon as animalistic because they haven't any money, even though their virtue might be greater than those beautiful people with a superfluous amount of money.

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