Poetry

Poetry is a big part of this novel. Ka, the main character, is a poet. Upon returning to Kars, Turkey Ka hadn’t been able to write a poem in a very long time. Once settles in thought, he started writing. "Before i got here, I hadn't written a poem in years," he said. "But since coming to Kars, all the roads on which poetry travels have reopened".(Page 327) Poems would come at all different times throughout the novel. Ka would stop everything that he was doing and take out his green notebook and begin writing. Poetry had a lot of meaning in “Snow”. During the time of this book your opinion was not allowed. Writing poems was Ka’s way to get his ideas and feelings out in a way that was socially acceptable. If Ka had said he wanted to make a speech on a topic that was controversial at the national theater he would have been arrested, beaten, and possibly killed. Through poetry Ka was able to get his personal message out on live TV at the national theater. In fact they signed him up to read a poem before he’d even written in. Being a poet was a great accomplishment that many people wanted. So I believe Ka had an advantage in Kars. He was able to voice his opinion and use what we do now, freedom on speech, through poetry. You need poetry in your life to speak in a socially acceptable manner in this book.

Ka's poems he wrote:
1.Snow
2.Hidden Symmetry
3.Stars and Their Friends
4.The Chocolate Box
5.The Place Where God Does Not Exist
6.The Night of the Revolution
7.Dream Streets
8.Suicide and Power
9.Privations and Difficulties
10.I,Ka
11.I Am Going to Be Happy
12.All Humanity and the Stars
13.Heaven
14.To Be Shot and Killed
15.Chess
16.Love
17.Dog
18.Jealousy
19.The Place Where the World Ends

This list came from the last page in the book. The page did not have a number.