The first snowfall

An original fiction passage set in the nineteenth century.

From the window, the snow looked clean and weightless. It settled on the garden wall, softening the broken stones and hiding the untidy border. I watched until the path disappeared. For a little while, the house seemed surrounded by a world that had forgotten its rough edges.

Then I remembered the coal shed. The bucket beside the hearth was empty. Outside, the first step sank deeper than I expected, and cold entered the split in my boot. The shed door resisted me; snow had packed itself against the frame. When I finally returned with the coal, I looked through the window again. The path was visible now, marked by the dark, clumsy line of my journey.

Analyse how the writer uses language and structure to show the narrator’s changing response to snow. Support your answer with references to the passage.