... materializes to ask Gabriel if he will cut the goose. Old Aunt Julia sings a song, and the crowd assembles for dinner, though Miss Ivors unexpectedly leaves early. Gabriel carves the goose and runs through the topics of his after-dinner speech in his head. Gabriel finally takes a break from carving in order ... him, and he is conscious of the flickering forms of the dead. Gabriel looks out the window and sees snow falling softly in the night. He thinks about the snow falling all over Ireland, piling up over the cemetery where Michael Furey lays buried. He climbs into bed, and his soul ....

• Word Count: 1468
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... from Robert Browning for fear it might look as if he were "airing his superior education" (Schwarz, 1994:24). Ironically, it is this very feeling of success on which Gabriel leaves the party with his beloved Gretta, and which is later punctured by the revelation of her secret past, in the form of her first love, the deceased yet somehow eternally ... such a love as this, and always will be "playing second fiddle" to the true love of Gretta's life. It has even been said that the final scene of the snow falling upon Michael's grave, with its imagery of crosses and spears and thorns ("It l...

• Word Count: 2387
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate