"My November Guest"

"My November Guest"

My Sorrow, when she's here with me,

Thinks these dark days of autumn rain

Are beautiful as days can be;

She loves the bare, the withered tree;

She walks the sodden pasture lane.

Her pleasure will not let me stay.

She talks and I am fain to list:

She's glad the birds are gone away,

She's glad her simple worsted gray

Is silver now with clinging mist.

The desolate, deserted trees,

The faded earth, the heavy sky,

The beauties she so ryly sees,

She thinks I have no eye for these,

And vexes me for reason why.

Not yesterday I learned to know

The love of bare November days

Before the coming of the snow,

But it were vain to tell he so,

And they are better for her praise.

In this poem, Frost wants to show that November is the transitional time of the year that people usually don’t enjoy. This is because it is not summer anymore, and its sunny days and warm weather are gone, and it is not winter yet, with its snow-filled trees and cold, cozy nights that have yet to arrive. Frost explains to the reader that usually during this time, most people have an uninvited guest called Sorrow, which is, in fact, the feeling that usually accompanies this kind of atmosphere. Throughout the whole poem, Sorrow is being personified, acting like an uninvited guest for the speaker, for example in line 1 where he states, “My Sorrow, when she’s here with me”, and trying to tell him the awful things November days bring. An example of a metaphor is present in line 12, “The faded earth, the heavy sky”. The earth cannot fade, and the sky cannot possibly be heavy. During the first three stanzas, you believe that the speaker is indeed being dragged into this gloomy state. What can be beautiful for Sorrow, is actually not enjoyable to the regular human, because Sorrow is not a feeling connected to the beautiful. In the last stanza though, you see that the speaker enjoys all the characteristics of November days. He states, “Not yesterday I learned to know/The love of bare November days” (Lines 17 & 18). He does not even bother telling Sorrow that he likes what she likes, by saying “But it were vain to tell her so/And they are better for her praise” (Lines 19 & 20) because Sorrow is a better narrator for these kinds of feelings.

For more information, please visit the following links:

http://www.eliteskills.com/analysis_poetry/My_November_Guest_by_Robert_Frost_analysis.php
http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/robertfrost/12033/comments
http://classicalpoetryforums.com/showthread.php?t=75
http://22poetry.com/showthread.php?t=75

"Spring Pools"

"Spring Pools"

These pools that, though in forests, still reflect

The total sky almost without defect,

And like the flowers beside them, chill and shiver,

Will like the flowers beside them soon be gone,

And yet not out by any brook or river,

But up by roots to bring dark foliage on.

The trees that have it in their pent-up buds

To darken nature and be summer woods --

Let them think twice before they use their powers

To blot out and drink up and sweep away

These flowery waters and these watery flowers

From snow that melted only yesterday.

Humans are romantic, and tend to identify themselves with nature. In poetry, nature and seasons are good ways to express one’s emotions.
"Spring Pools" by Robert Frost talks about the poet’s feelings for the spring season, which tends to pass way too quickly (line 12). Frost relates springtime with happiness and opportunity for new beginnings.
For example, the pools of water formed by melted snow from the passing winter and all the flowers around it indicate it is springtime (lines 11& 12). The snow that melted recently is considered as the better aspect of life, leaving behind the end of a cold, gloomy winter and entering the beginning of a bright, beautiful spring. We can relate this to life itself, because humans always want to leave the bad behind and start fresh and new. When Frost writes to let the "summer woods think twice before they use their powers" (line 8 & 9), he is advising the woods to think twice about absorbing the water, because this is a sign that the summer will end. Frost knows nature cannot stop; he just wants it to slow its course. This is obviously personification, which appears more than once throughout the poem, since woods cannot think nor stop it’s course. This is clearly a situation in which humanity clings to emotions and opportunity. He wishes to be happy as long as he can.

For more information on this poem, you may visit the following link:
http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/robertfrost/12123/comments

"Fireflies in the Garden"

"Fireflies in the Garden"

Here come real stars to fill the upper skies,

And here on earth come emulating flies,

That though they never equal stars in size,

(And they were never really stars at heart)

Achieve at times a very star-like start.

Only, of course, they can't sustain the part.

Frost is comparing stars and fireflies. He differentiates that stars are in the sky while fireflies are on Earth. At the beginning, he wants to see if fireflies can fulfill the majestic role of stars in the night sky. He does this saying, “Here come real stars to fill the upper skies, and here on Earth come emulating flies… to achieve at times a very star-like start” (lines 1-3,5). Though, at the end, Frost claims that fireflies can’t equal a star by stating that the flies “Can’t sustain the part” (line 6). In the middle of the poem, Frost foreshadows his conclusion by expressing his doubt in line 4. This shows that Frost believes that the beauty of a firefly is inferior to that of a star. The poem’s rhyme scheme is that of “AAABBB” and if you were to take this poem to another level, we could interpret it as if Frost is comparing fireflies and stars to any feeling a person could have such as love or friendship. An example could be a big love that leaves and another one may come and take its place, even though it will never replace it or be as the original.

For more analysis on this poem, you may visit the following link:
http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/robertfrost/12126/comments.