Whittier’s Critical Creed 47
resulting horror and shock of the loss. Only then is the
reader aware of the skillful manipulation of theme, as the
careful development of the attractiveness and assurance of
external nature hides the inevitable destruction of human
beauty and earthly love. The ironic contrast of the boy’s trust
and expectation with the true situation offers a psychological
insight into the problem of death,18 As a whole the poem
succeeds because of the utter simplicity of its prose-like
phrasing and ballad meter, and because of its firm structural
unity created by the progression from assurance to fear and
then surprise. The Styhstic devices are few: some repetitions
in the use of the adjective “same” and similar physical detail;
some parallelisms, like the balance in “heave and slow,” “for-
ward and back”; some alliteration as the “s” sounds in the last
stanzas; and a restatement of detail with a changed signifi-
cance when the warm sun is transformed into a chilling snow
and the happy song of tire brook is altered into the dreary
chant of death. The poem’s artlessness shows Whittier’s mas-
tery of simple narration, his truth of style; while its theme
employs a rural situation and local environment to empha-
size an underlying problem of human existence. The beauty
of the commonplace here is one of wonder and surprise that
causes reflection in the reader’s mind.
The best of Whittier’s genre pieces and his ballads illus-
trate the essential truth which he had first recognized in
Burns’ poetry: that underneath the most commonplace ob-
jects lay beauty, rich treasures of life’s tragedy and comedy.
His regional works reveal the inner love of a man for the
environment that moulded him, the tradition that inspired
him, and the people that loved him. Acting on his belief in
the beauty of the commonplace and the truth of style, Whit-
tier worked these materials of the home and affections into