The Full Text of “The Buck in the Snow”
1White sky, over the hemlocks bowed with snow,
2Saw you not at the beginning of evening the antlered buck and his doe
3Standing in the apple-orchard? I saw them. I saw them suddenly go,
4Tails up, with long leaps lovely and slow,
5Over the stone-wall into the wood of hemlocks bowed with snow.
6Now lies he here, his wild blood scalding the snow.
7How strange a thing is death, bringing to his knees, bringing to his antlers
8The buck in the snow.
9How strange a thing,—a mile away by now, it may be,
10Under the heavy hemlocks that as the moments pass
11Shift their loads a little, letting fall a feather of snow—
12Life, looking out attentive from the eyes of the doe.
The Full Text of “The Buck in the Snow”
1White sky, over the hemlocks bowed with snow,
2Saw you not at the beginning of evening the antlered buck and his doe
3Standing in the apple-orchard? I saw them. I saw them suddenly go,
4Tails up, with long leaps lovely and slow,
5Over the stone-wall into the wood of hemlocks bowed with snow.
6Now lies he here, his wild blood scalding the snow.
7How strange a thing is death, bringing to his knees, bringing to his antlers
8The buck in the snow.
9How strange a thing,—a mile away by now, it may be,
10Under the heavy hemlocks that as the moments pass
11Shift their loads a little, letting fall a feather of snow—
12Life, looking out attentive from the eyes of the doe.
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“The Buck in the Snow” Introduction
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“The Buck in the Snow” Summary
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“The Buck in the Snow” Themes
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The Fragility of Life
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Buck in the Snow”
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Lines 1-3
White sky, over the hemlocks bowed with snow,
Saw you not at the beginning of evening the antlered buck and his doe
Standing in the apple-orchard? -
Lines 3-5
I saw them. I saw them suddenly go,
Tails up, with long leaps lovely and slow,
Over the stone-wall into the wood of hemlocks bowed with snow. -
Line 6
Now lies he here, his wild blood scalding the snow.
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Lines 7-8
How strange a thing is death, bringing to his knees, bringing to his antlers
The buck in the snow. -
Lines 9-11
How strange a thing,—a mile away by now, it may be,
Under the heavy hemlocks that as the moments pass
Shift their loads a little, letting fall a feather of snow— -
Line 12
Life, looking out attentive from the eyes of the doe.
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“The Buck in the Snow” Symbols
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Snow
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The Antlered Buck
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“The Buck in the Snow” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Imagery
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Repetition
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Caesura
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Alliteration
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Consonance
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Assonance
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Enjambment
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Personification
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“The Buck in the Snow” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Hemlocks
- Antlered
- Buck
- Doe
- Scalding
- Attentive
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Buck in the Snow”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“The Buck in the Snow” Speaker
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“The Buck in the Snow” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “The Buck in the Snow”
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More “The Buck in the Snow” Resources
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External Resources
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A Musical Adaptation — Listen to a musical adaptation of the entire poem.
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The Poem Out Loud — Listen to a reading of the entire poem.
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Millay's Biography — Read more about Millay's life, courtesy of the Edna St. Vincent Millay Society.
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Millay's Legacy — Read about the ways in which Millay and her work are perceived today.
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A Poet's Lecture on Millay — Listen to renowned poet Eavan Boland read aloud and lecture on the poems of Edna St. Vincent Millay.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay
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