The Snowman by Wallace Stevens

[snagglepuss]

13. My bad. I was so stuck by the imagery, I hadn't yet given much thought to it's meaning

however I too was struck by the last line which seems to jar with the lovely winter images. Upon reflection, I think it's about heartlessness and disconnection, about people who have eyes but do not see.

The snowman (someone heartless and cold) observes everything coldly so much so he his unmoved by misery (sound of the leaves) that surrounds him.

A cold and heartless person is disconnected from the world and himself. Without emotions, a person is without a subjective life and without a subjective, emotional life a person is an empty vessal that cannot see anything beyond the material. I think what Stevens is saying is that we need emotions to preceive the immaterial world and that the immaterial world is the real world.