“To a Snowdrop” Summary

“To a Snowdrop” Themes

• 

  Nature's Beauty and Persistence

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• 

  The Fleeting Nature of Life

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• 

  Humility, Observation, and Poetry

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “To a Snowdrop”

• Lines 1-4

  Lone Flower, hemmed in with snows and white as they
  But hardier far, once more I see thee bend
  Thy forehead, as if fearful to offend,
  Like an unbidden guest.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 4-8

  Though day by day,
  Storms, sallying from the mountain-tops, waylay
  The rising sun, and on the plains descend;
  Yet art thou welcome, welcome as a friend
  Whose zeal outruns his promise!

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 8-11

  Blue-eyed May
  Shall soon behold this border thickly set
  With bright jonquils, their odors lavishing
  On the soft west-wind and his frolic peers;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 12-14

  Nor will I then thy modest grace forget,
  Chaste Snowdrop, venturous harbinger of Spring,
  And pensive monitor of fleeting years!

  

  

  

  

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“To a Snowdrop” Symbols

• 

  The Snowdrop

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“To a Snowdrop” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Apostrophe

  

  

  

  

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• Personification

  

  

  

  

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• Simile

  

  

  

  

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• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Repetition

  

  

  

  

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“To a Snowdrop” 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.

• Hemmed in
• Hardier far
• Thee/Thou/Thy
• Forehead
• Unbidden
• Sallying
• Waylay
• Art thou
• Zeal
• Jonquils
• Lavishing
• Frolic peers
• Chaste
• Snowdrop
• Venturous
• Harbinger
• Pensive
• Monitor

• • See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “To a Snowdrop”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“To a Snowdrop” Speaker

“To a Snowdrop” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “To a Snowdrop”

More “To a Snowdrop” Resources

• External Resources

  • A Reading of the Poem — Listen to Wordsworth's "To a Snowdrop" read out loud by Helen Johnson. 

  • The Life and Career of William Wordsworth — Read the poet's biography at the Poetry Foundation.   

  • A Brief Guide to Romanticism — Read about the literary movement Wordsworth belonged to and helped shape.  

  • Snowdrops Flowering and Growing: A Time Lapse — Get a look at the poem's subject in this this sped up video of snowdrops flowering over the course of 12 days.   

  • What Exactly Is a Sonnet? — Learn all about the form that Wordsworth frequently turned to in his poetry.   

• LitCharts on Other Poems by William Wordsworth

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  • A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal

  • Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802

  • Expostulation and Reply

  • Extract from The Prelude (Boat Stealing)

  • It Is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free

  • I Travelled Among Unknown Men

  • I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

  • Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey

  • Lines Written in Early Spring

  • London, 1802

  • Mutability

  • My Heart Leaps Up

  • Nuns Fret Not at Their Convent’s Narrow Room

  • Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood

  • She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways

  • She was a Phantom of Delight

  • The Solitary Reaper

  • The Tables Turned

  • The World Is Too Much With Us

  • Three Years She Grew in Sun and Shower

  • We Are Seven