Snowflake (symbol)
As the reader moves through the poem, it becomes clear that the snowflake is a metaphor or symbol for that which is present, exquisite, and individualized, but will eventually fade or melt into its surroundings. This metaphor presumably illuminates the speaker’s anxiety about his transition from an active, successful writer, to just another person who has died. One could argue that what he fears most is that he will be forgotten or assimilated into the indistinct archives of the past.
The page (symbol)
"The page" not only acts as synecdoche in this poem, but represents the legacy that the speaker will leave behind in the form of writing—a legacy he worries will not stand the test of time. In this configuration, the page is of the utmost importance, because writing is the only way he feels he can live on with distinction. More generally, the page represents the traces that lives leave behind, as well as the physical and historical archive of collective memory that civilization controls and modulates.
Leap (motif)
The word "leap" appears twice in the poem, and seems to be a central feature of the poem’s concern. In the context of the salmon metaphor, the leap represents the distinct, individual, visible, pure life that the speaker has now. Though he's as vital and eye-catching as a leaping salmon, he fears he won’t be able to preserve himself—even through archiving his work in the canon. By the end of the poem, the speaker has realized that even if his work continues to draw readers who revere his books, time may mold his legacy into something undifferentiated, stagnant and “standard.” Ultimately, the speaker rests on the notion that even if he vanishes in this way, he has still leapt, and still lived.
"Standard pinkness" (symbol)
Much like the snowflake metaphor, this phrase represents, in the speaker’s view, the salmon’s unfortunate journey from sentient, magnificent and visible, to dead, taken for granted, and indistinguishable. Presumably, the speaker does not desire “standard pinkness” and fears his fate as a writer and mortal will mirror that of a nameless, average, cooked salmon.
"Birdseye scholar"
The speaker wonders what Clarence Birdseye, the inventor of flash-frozen seafood, might make of a salmon’s life trajectory—a trajectory that gives him so much anxiety. The speaker is likely identifying Birdseye as someone who also seeks to “freeze” time or nature's progression. Perhaps, in that sense, Birdseye becomes a symbol of comfort and identification for MacLeish. Further, he may embody for MacLeish the human desire to matter, create, and evade time’s inevitable grip. The fact that Clarence Birdseye was famous and influenced human consumption for generations after his death is worth noting in this context.
