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Generally, poets use birds and trees as symbols of beauty and positivity, often describing colourful birds like parrots, peacocks, and cuckoos, along with trees bearing flowers and fruits. In this poem, Frost uses a crow, a black bird with a harsh voice that is usually seen as a bad omen, creating a gloomy and negative image in the reader’s mind.
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Frost also refers to a hemlock tree, which is a poisonous plant with small white flowers. Instead of choosing trees like maple, pine, or oak that symbolise happiness and beauty, he selects the hemlock tree to reflect his feelings of sadness and regret.
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The crow and the hemlock tree together represent the poet’s sorrowful and depressing state of mind. In contrast, the dust of snow symbolises natural joy and renewed energy, showing how the poet’s earlier sadness fades and is replaced by an optimistic mood.
NCERT Solutions Class 10 English First Flight Chapter 1 Poem: Dust of Snow is a short yet meaningful poem that shows how a small, unexpected moment can bring a positive change in life. In this poem, the poet describes how a crow shakes dust of snow from a hemlock tree onto him, instantly lifting his gloomy mood and saving the rest of his day from being wasted in sadness.
Through simple imagery and symbolism, the poem highlights themes of hope, change, and the healing power of nature. Dust of Snow Class 10 NCERT Solutions help students understand how ordinary events can have deep emotional impact, while also improving poetic analysis skills.
This poem, included in the CBSE Class 10 syllabus, is important for exams as it focuses on theme-based questions, poetic devices, and value-based interpretation.
Chapter 1 Poem- Dust of Snow Central idea
The central idea of Dust of Snow is that even a small and unexpected incident can bring a positive change in a person’s mood and outlook on life. The poet shows how a simple natural event—snow falling from a tree—instantly lifts his sadness and fills him with hope. The poem highlights the power of nature to heal, refresh the mind, and remind us that negative feelings can be transformed through simple moments.
Class 10 Dust of Snow Question Answer
The Dust of Snow question answers help students understand the poem’s central idea, themes, and poetic devices clearly. These answers explain how a small moment in nature brings a positive change in the poet’s mood. Studying them improves interpretation skills and helps in writing better exam answers.
Dust of Snow Question Answer
Question 1:
What is a “dust of snow”? What does the poet say has changed his mood? How has the poet’s mood changed?
Answer:
The ‘dust of snow’ refers to the tiny particles of snowflakes. The sudden fall of these snowflakes brought a change in the poet’s mood. He was initially sad and gloomy, but the moment refreshed him, lifting his spirits and making him feel cheerful and energetic for the rest of the day.
Question 2:
How does Frost present nature in this poem? The following questions may help you to think of an answer.
(i) What are the birds that are usually named in poems? Do you think a crow is often mentioned in poems? What images come to your mind when you think of a crow?
(ii) Again, what is “a hemlock tree”? Why doesn’t the poet write about a more ‘beautiful’ tree such as a maple, or an oak, or a pine?
(iii) What do the ‘crow’ and ‘hemlock’ represent — joy or sorrow? What does the dust of snow that the crow shakes off a hemlock tree stand for?
Answer:
In the poem, Frost presents nature in a very unconventional manner.
Question 3:
Have there been times when you felt depressed or hopeless? Have you experienced a similar moment that changed your mood that day?
Answer:
Yes, there have been many moments when I felt sad, low, and hopeless because of unavoidable situations in my life. At times, these feelings arose due to the indifferent attitude of others, and sometimes because of my own actions. Once, I came back from school feeling tired and upset. As soon as I reached home, my puppy jumped on me and cuddled me. This small act of affection instantly lifted my mood. I felt happy and cheerful for the rest of the day, played with my puppy for some time, and showered him with love and care.
NCERT Class 10 English Chapter 1 Poem – Fire and Ice
Thinking about the Poem (Page 15)
Question 1: There are many ideas about how the world will ‘end’. Do you think the world will end someday? Have you ever thought what would happen if the sun got so hot that it ‘burst’, or grew colder and colder?
Answer:
There are several theories about how the world might come to an end. I believe that the world will end someday because everything that has a beginning also has an end, and this applies to the world as well. If the Sun becomes extremely hot and bursts, all life on Earth would perish instantly, as the planet would be unable to withstand such intense heat. On the other hand, if the Sun gradually grows colder, life on Earth would also come to an end due to the absence of sunlight. We know that sunlight is a vital source of energy for all the planets in the solar system, and without it, survival would be impossible.
Question 2: For Frost, what do ‘fire’ and ‘ice’ stand for? Here are some ideas:
| greed | avarice | cruelty | lust |
| conflict | fury | intolerance | rigidity |
| insensitivity | coldness | indifference | hatred |
Answer: ‘Fire’ stands for greed, avarice, lust, conflict and fury. ‘Ice’ stands for cruelty, intolerance, rigidity, insensitivity, coldness, indifference and hatred.
Question 3:
What is the rhyme scheme of the poem? How does it help in bringing out the contrasting ideas in the poem?
Answer:
The rhyme scheme of the poem is: a, b, a, a, b, c, b, c, b.
This rhyme scheme helps in projecting the contrasting ideas of ‘fire’ and ‘ice’ that are presented in the poem. The poet Frost mentions both fire and ice as the probable ends of the planet Earth. He talks about how ‘fire’ represents desire and might be a possible cause of the end of the world. The poet also mentions ‘ice’ in the poem to symbolize the coldness and indifference that people might have towards one another, which will be a reason good enough to end the world. In the second stanza of the poem, the poet says that he knows enough about hate in this world and is sure that even destruction through hatred (ice) would be sufficient and adequate to bring about an end to the planet Earth.