Violin Poem Analysis

The first thing that the listener notices upon the beginning of the song is the aura of tension that is displayed. The beginning starts off slowly and crescendos until the feeling is resolved. Immediately after violins start to sound erratically. The aesthetic of “Winter” paints the aesthetic of a man leaving the safety of his home and searching for firewood in the harsh winter. The turbulent violin runs represent the fierceness of the storm and the struggle to survive it. The constant sounding of low strings represent the stamping of feet, and the dissonant sounds represent the chattering of teeth due to the cold. This constant sound, which could musically be referred to as an ostinato, is what the different violin solos return to.
Around the middle of the piece, the low and high strings participate in a call and response section. This section gives the aesthetic of small triumphs in the midst of conflict. This is the man’s determination to reach his home once again in success. It is an exuberant section that evokes positivity in the listener. This is immediately countered with another section signifying more conflict. It is as if the man though he was safe, but it was an illusion.
As the piece comes to a close the constant sound of low

As the sonnet describes “walking on the ice,”...cautiously for the fear of falling.” This is represented with the high pitched violin solo runs, depicting how slippery the ice is while the man is viewing the destruction of the storm. The violin runs then begin to descend, portraying the man’s struggle not to fall. This struggle develops until a fall is imminent. The listener hears pauses in the music along with accented and staggered violin entrances. This exemplifies the fall of the man. The mood then changes in entirety from conflict to a small aura of joy. The man has arisen. The song then changes back to its original mood representing the final struggle to reach