Point of View

“The Snow Man” is written from the detached perspective of an omniscient speaker. The speaker comments on the nature of human contemplation of winter’s desolations. From the first two stanzas of the poem it is possible to interpret the speaker’s position as that of a human being who has lived through and experienced many winters: “One must have a mind of winter / To regard the frost and the boughs / Of the pine-trees crusted with snow; // And have been cold a long time / To behold the junipers shagged with ice, / The spruces rough in the distant glitter” (1-6). It is also plausible to interpret the speaker’s position as a purely omniscient one that transcends the human perspective.

In the third, fourth, and fifth stanzas of the poem the speaker refers to a listener outside his or her own perspective, further suggesting omniscience. The...