Longfellow’s poem Snow-flakes equates the falling of snow to the revealing of inner
grief. By my interpretation, this grief is revealed in artistic expression, turning pain into
beauty. This composition serves as both a personal expression of the intense
depression I had been experiencing at the time of its composition, and a reflection of
how the process of converting pain into art feels.
The first moments of the piece are tentative, as is often the case when one prepares
to bare their hurt before the world. Soon, the piece begins to feel more confident, but
it is subverted before the first thought can be truly completed by way of its cadence,
inspiring a feeling of incompletion. The next section of the piece transitions from
telling about one’s emotions to showing them, with the first real tears falling at the
word ‘snow’. From there the music begins to weep, and in doing so experiences the
catharsis of emotional release around the word ‘confession’. In having wept and
experienced emotion in its fullest, on
