=Discussion.= 1. Compare the picture that the first stanza gives you with that given you in the first stanza of “Snow-Flakes” and that given you by the first ten lines of “The Snow Storm.” 2. Compare the picture that the fourth stanza gives you with that given by lines 17-22 of “The Snow Storm.” 3. In the fourth stanza, what does the poet say the snowstorm does? 4. What does the poet mean by “muffled wizard of the wood”? 5. What pictures does the sixth stanza give you? 6. Which of these descriptions seems to you most apt? 7. What does the poet mean by “inmost ear”? 8. Compare this meaning with that of “inward eye” in Wordsworth’s “The Daffodils” and with “eyes in the heart” in Lowell’s “To the Dandelion.” 9. What do the “heavenly thoughts” suggested by the scene do for the poet? =Phrases= flickering curtains, 82, 6 ivory woof, 82, 18 paves with pearl, 82, 19 tattered stalk, 82, 20 shivering stem, 82, 21 alabaster lid, 82, 26 clustering spangles, 83, 7 surplice white, 83, 11 BLOW, BLOW, THOU WINTER WIND WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Blow, blow, thou winter wind, Thou art not so unkind As man’s ingratitude; Thy tooth is not so keen Because thou art not seen, Although thy breath be rude. Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly; Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly. Then heigh-ho! the holly! This life is most jolly. Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky, Thou dost not bite so nigh As benefits forgot; Though thou the waters warp, Thy sting is not so sharp As friend remembered not. Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly; Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly. Then heigh-ho! the holly! This life is most jolly. NOTES AND QUESTIONS =Biography.= William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was the greatest English poet, and was one of the greatest poets the world has ever known. He wrote for all times and all peoples. He was born at Stratford-on-Avon, where fifty-two years later he died. At the age of twenty-two he removed to London, where for twenty years he wrote poems and plays, was an actor, and later a shareholder in the theater. The last six years of his life he spent quietly at Stratford.