Robert Frost’s short poem had many names: first published as “Favour” in the London Mercury (1920), then reprinted as “Snow Dust” in the Yale Review (1921), before its enduring title, “Dust of Snow” was published in his collected works, New Hampshire (1923). Frost teaches us irony by showing the kindness of a crow, thought to be a symbol of death, for shaking off the snow from a poisonous hemlock. it is often studied by students in grades 4 – 5.
The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.
