Robert Frost, an American poet, who first had success in England, is known for taking aspects of ordinary New England rural life and creating extraordinary truths apparent in that life. He is perhaps best known for the poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay” and “Birches” in which he writes “One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.” And everyone recognizes “But I have promises to keep, / And miles to go before I sleep.”
In the brief explanation that Frost provides in his article “The Figure a Poem Makes,” he states, “It [a poem] begins in delight and ends in wisdom” (818). How does this statement apply to the poem you choose?
Your assignment is to explicate ONE of the following two poems in our text: “The Pasture” (819) or “Mowing” (820).
A. If you choose “The Pasture,” explicate the two stanzas and interpret the last line repeated in both stanzas. Then respond to questions #1 and #2 under Joining the Conversation on page 820 at the top of the page. Conclude with your analysis of the poem as a moment of joy in the rural calendar or does it also convey something more, You may also want to expand it to his statement on how we should live our lives.
B. “The Mowing,” a pastoral sonnet (which does not follow the schemes of the Shakespearean or Petrarchan sonnet) but is, nevertheless, a lyrical sonnet with a twist of meaning at the end, has a rather complex theme. Scything and working the land are typical settings for Frost’s poetry. An earlier poem by an earlier poet included the line “What is the word that, over and over, / Sings the Scythe to the flowers and grass?” How does Frost answer this question? First explicate the lines analyzing what is important about “whispering” and “sound” and the images described in the poem and how that all determines the closing couplet, which does not rhyme. Even though this seems more difficult that “The Pasture,” they both reveal certain truths about life that Frost reminds us are important.

Sample Solution

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