On a Night of Snow

2: Who is the speaker of stanza one? What does the speaker want to convey?

The owner of the cat is the speaker of stanza one. The speaker wants to convince the cat to stay indoors because the weather outside is stormy and cold.

 3: How does the speaker try to coax Cat?

Answer: Mistress tries to coax Cat by making her aware of the stormy weather outside. She describes the chilliness of the night. She tells Cat that the streets are covered with snow that would make his feet cold. She even tries to tempt Cat by offering a warm fireside and a saucer of milk.

 4: Why does Cat want to go out? What does that reflect about Cat?

Cat wants to go outside to enjoy the wild blowing winds. He wants to go out in dark night to hear the strange whisperings in the trees, play in the meadow grasses filled with snow and look for magical omens in the air.

It shows that Cat is adventurous and wants to experience the thrill. He is not afraid of stormy weather and dark night.

 5. The poem has two stanzas with two very different perspectives. Explain the two contrasting points of view presented by Mistress and Cat in this poem. Whose point of view do you agree more with?

The poem has two stanzas. The first one tells us about the perspective of Mistress and the second one tells us about the perspective of Cat.

According to Mistress, Cat should avoid going out in the cold stormy weather. The second stanza gives us an entirely different perspective. Cat wants to go out and experience the thrill. He is not afraid of stormy weather and dark night.

I agree with Cat’s point of view more.

 6. Personification is the attribution of human characteristics to something not human or representation of an abstract quality in human form. Pick this literary device in the poem and explain it.

The poet used the literary device called personification in this poem, ‘On a Night of Snow’. Cat, an animal, is given human qualities in the poem. The poet gives the power of speech and the power of reasoning to Cat. In the first stanza, Cat is addressed as a human. In the second stanza, Cat expresses his point of view.