The Beginning of Lorna Crozier’s Late-Style: A Thematic Change in the Symbol of Snow

Abstract

‘Snow’ has been one of Lorna Crozier’s (1948) most recurrent symbols from the very beginning of her writing career, to the extent that in her memoir, Small Beneath the Sky: A Prairie Memoir (2009), ‘snow’ is established as a ‘first cause’ (2009: 58), that is, one of the inspirational triggers for her writing career. In her work, ‘snow’ has always been mostly associated to silence, the blurring of shapes, forgiveness and softness, as in her seminal poem “Childhood” (1985: 26), in which all the above mentioned symbols are intertwined. However, a change in the symbolism of snow can be observed in Small Mechanics (2011), which was launched when Crozier was in her early-sixties. This change consists in the discernible identification of ‘snow’ with ‘grief’ as a feeling associated to Crozier’s treatment of the ageing experience in her work. This thematic change in its association with reflections on ageing suggests the beginning of Lorna Crozier’s late style.