A Study Guide for Diana Chang's "Most Satisfied by Snow"

By Gale and Cengage

A Study Guide for Diana Chang's "Most Satisfied by Snow," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Poetry for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Poetry for Students for all of your research needs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cengage Learning - Gale
• Release date: Sep 2, 2016
• ISBN: 9781535828895

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11

Most Satisfied by Snow

Diana Chang

1974

Introduction

Although best known as a novelist of works dealing with themes of ethnicity and identity, the Chinese American writer Diana Chang is also an acclaimed poet. Chang's poetry deals occasionally with themes similar to those found in her novels, but her poems also take inspiration from the world of nature. These poems often have a meditative feel in their brevity and in their quiet, contemplative voice. In this short free-verse poem (a poem without metrical or rhyme patterns), her contemplation of the natural world serves as a springboard for larger philosophical explorations. She touches on the notions of personal growth and the significance of an individual in relation to his or her environment. Using only twenty-five words, Chang captures details that form more expansive images in the reader's mind that in turn are transformed by Chang's spare language about substance and matter into musings about personal identity, transformation, and relevance.

Originally published by Washington Square Press in 1974 in Asian-American Heritage: An Anthology of Prose and Poetry, edited by David Hsin-Fu Wand, Most Satisfied by Snow later appeared in Chang's 1984 poetry collection What Matisse is After, published by Contact II Publications. The poemcan also be found in the textbook Prentice Hall Literature: Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes: The American Experience, published by Prentice Hall in 2002.

Author Biography

Born in New York in 1934, Chang moved with her parents to China when she was an infant. Her father, K. C. Chang, was a Chinese architect, and her mother, Eva Lee, was an American of Eurasian (a mixture of European and Asian backgrounds) descent. Chang was raised in Beijing and Shanghai, among other Chinese cities, and she attended school in the