Announced by all the trumpets of the sky,
Arrives the snow, and, driving o’er the fields,
Seems nowhere to alight: the whited air
Hides hills and woods, the river, and the heaven,
And veils the farm-house at the garden’s end.
The sled and traveler stopped, the courier's feet
Delayed, all friends shut out, the housemates sit
Around the radiant fireplace, enclosed
In a tumultuous privacy of storm.
Come see the north wind’s masonry.
Out of an unseen quarry evermore
Furnished with tile, the fierce artificer
Curves his white bastions with projected roof
Round every windward stake, or tree, or door.
Speeding, the myriad-handed, his wild work
So fanciful, so savage, nought cares he
For number or proportion. Mockingly,
On coop or kennel he hangs Parian wreaths;
A swan-like form invests the hidden thorn;
Fills up the farmer’s lane from wall to wall,
Maugre the farmer sighs; and at the gate,
A tapering turret overtops the work.
And when his hours are numbered, and the world
Is all his own, retiring, as he were not,
Leaves, when the sun appears, astonished Art
To mimic in slow structures, stone by stone,
Built in an age, the mad wind’s night-work,
The frolic architecture of the snow.
What is the function of words such as veils, delayed, and enclosed in the first stanza of Emerson's "The Snow-Storm"?
They show that the storm is vibrant and vital.
They show that the storm comes and goes silently.
They show that the storm hides the world and slows life down.
They show that the storm angers the speaker of the poem.
What is the function of the images of masonry and architecture in the second stanza of Emerson's poem?
The images personify the storm’s desire to destroy everything in its path.
The images convey the speaker's view of the wind's work as skillful and impressive.
The images describe the speaker’s anger toward the storm.
The images explain the snow’s effect on travelers, couriers, and housemates.