Boy at the Window

Richard Wilbur's "Boy at the Window"

"Boy at the Window" by Richard Wilbur is a poem about the reciprocal pity that a young boy and a snowman have for each other as they both watch the other interact in an environment in which they cannot exist. The poem presents a story of sadness and eventual understanding that is easily relatable to any reader, and Wilbur does a remarkable job of making his poem resonate in the minds of his readers with the use of vivid imagery, relatable context and engaging language, which work together to make this short poem touch a deeper level in the minds and hearts of readers than one might imagine it would at first glance.

The poem opens with the young boy staring out the window at the snowman he has presumably made, standing alone in the cold and darkness of a...
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