In a cold snowy and desolate landscape, a struggling shepherd herds his sheep uphill and from right-to-left across the bottom of the painting, indicating a process that is traumatic, effortful and going against the flow. This dramatic content is attenuated by the use of consoling blues and a rythmic texture. I find that this form resonates with me. In an article he wrote about Baudelaire, TS Eliot refers to a struggle from the natural to the spiritual that should be undertaken.