"A Time to Talk"When a friend calls to me from the road
And slows his horse to a meaning walk,
I don't stand still and look around
On all the hills I haven't hoed,
And shout from where I am, What is it?
No, not as there is a time to talk.
I thrust my hoe in the mellow ground,
Blade-end up and five feet tall,
And plod: I go up to the stone wall
For a friendly visit.
In this poem, Robert Frost shows a simple even a person shouldn’t pass up, which is chatting with a friend. The speaker realizes that it is better to go up to where the friend is rather than shout out from where he is mowing the lawn (lines 3-5). The speaker decides to leave his “hoe” in the mellow ground (line 7) because there is always time for an enjoyable pause from work, in this case, mowing the many hills which he still must do (line 4). The speaker could have easily spoken from the hill, but by doing this, the friend could have felt unwelcomed and almost unwanted, because the distance makes the relationship seem less warm, since the distance tends to act as a separator, almost like a wall, between the speaker and the friend. Frost wants the reader to reach the conclusion that friendship is precious and important. Just like you need friends to listen to your ups and downs, you also need to take some time out of your own busy life to listen to the joys and troubles of a friend. Listening and being there for those who need you is the key to a meaningful, life long friendship.
To find more information on the understanding of this poem, you may visit http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/robertfrost/12085/comments.
