Billy Collins immediately establishes a central metaphor, or conceit, of armed conflict between political forces.

The first line conveys that “revolution of snow” had occurred overnight. The central theme of the poem is the reversal of ordinary relations. The poet expresses the silent domination of the natural world through snow in language usually used for political conflicts, including war.

The total closure of the city because of the heavy snowfall is deemed a revolution because it has effectively overthrown the government by shutting it down. Society has surrendered to nature, as shown by the image of the “white flag” that waves over the whole city. The idea of challenges to the political order is also expressed through referring to himself as a “prisoner” who sympathizes with, rather than opposes, the snow’s “anarchic cause.”

Another aspect of the reversal of normality is conveyed through his emphasis in the last stanza on the children. He portrays them not as idly playing while out of school, but involved in royal intrigues. Collins equates the government with a set of buildings or institutions that it operates—school, library, and post office. He later focuses on the schools by listing a number of school closures he hears on the radio, with fanciful names that suggest how adults trivialize childhood.

Instead, Collins seems to treat the children’s activities seriously, equating the girls’ whispering with “plotting.” Finally, he connects the poem’s end to its beginning by suggesting they will stage a revolution of their own, as a “small queen is about to be brought down.”