Hunters in the Snow
Hunters in the Snow - context Summary
Ekphrastic Response to Brueghel
This poem is an ekphrastic description of a Brueghel winter painting, enumerating visual details—mountains, returning hunters, an inn sign, a bonfire, skaters—without overt interpretation. Williams names the painter and frames himself as a careful observer, noting how the chosen foreground bush "completes the picture." The poem models his interest in visual art and objective, precise description rather than romanticizing the scene.
Read Complete AnalysesThe over-all picture is winter icy mountains in the background the return from the hunt it is toward evening from the left sturdy hunters lead in their pack the inn-sign hanging from a broken hinge is a stag a crucifix between his antlers the cold inn yard is deserted but for a huge bonfire that flares wind-driven tended by women who cluster about it to the right beyond the hill is a pattern of skaters Brueghel the painter concerned with it all has chosen a winter-struck bush for his foreground to complete the picture
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