"Driving to Town Late to Mail a Letter"

In “Driving to Town Late to Mail a Letter,” Robert Bly sets a relaxed and peaceful tone, using style, imagery, and diction to show that sometimes in life you need to just step back and enjoy your surroundings. The poem takes place late at night, when the speaker is delivering a letter in the snow. The whole poem is written in free verse, which is symbolic of his carefree and nonchalant attitude as he explores the night. Furthermore, he uses vivid description to show the loneliness and frigidness of the night, commenting on the “cold iron” of the mailbox and the “swirls of snow” that symbolize purity and peace. Finally, his diction reveals his true purpose. The reader understands that Bly doesn’t really care about mailing the letter because after mailing it, he remarks that he will now “waste more time.” This implies that mailing the letter was a waste of time, and he was just doing it for the purpose of enjoying nature in all of its beauty. Additionally, he isn’t walking but he is “driving around.” The word “around” represents the fact that he has nowhere specific to go, but he is just enjoying being alone. Through these various techniques, Bly shows that appreciating life is a necessity that we all too often miss out on.