Assignment 6: Response to "The Hunter in the Snow"

Hunters in the Snow - Pieter Brueghel

The Hunter in the Snow - William Carlos Williams

The over-all picture is winter
icy mountains
in the background the return

from the hunt it is toward evening
from the left
sturdy hunters lead in

their pack 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 to the right beyond

the hill is a pattern of skaters
Brueghel the painter
concerned with it all has chosen

a winter-struck bush for his
foreground to
complete the picture

RESPONSE:

When I first began reading this poem, I didn’t realize it was describing Brueghel’s painting.  I thought “The Hunter in the Snow” stood quite well on its own and was intrigued by the lack of punctuation.  It took a couple read-throughs to fully understand the picture being painted.  The poem’s strange flow reminded me of someone trudging through harsh conditions and getting stuck in knee-deep snow. 

The narrator, speaking in uncomfortable, choppy phrases, has presented an image of what he sees in the winter scene.  The fact that the lines do flow and break in unusual places makes it seem like the narrator’s vision is distorted, perhaps affected by blizzards or cold haze.

When Williams mentioned Brueghel’s name, I realized “The Hunter in the Snow” was written about the piece of artwork.  Honestly, the poem didn’t seem as interesting anymore.  It simply describes exactly what Brueghel has drawn, even the location of his subject matter: “icy mountains in the background” and “from the left sturdy hunters lead in their pack”.  I think the reason cubist poems work is because they are so abstract.  When they’re applied to a very direct visual, they sort of lose their magic.  What’s more, the painting becomes less open to interpretation.

Williams clearly put thought into how he’d write his poem, considering line breaks and run-ons, but once I noticed the painting, the poem became too much of a description for me.  I enjoy “descriptive” poetry as long as it creates its own images.  William’s poem was very straightforward and almost seemed like an art analysis written by a kindergartener who hasn’t learned how to form sentences yet.