Frost Commentary: Mowing

Quotes Commentary

How does the poem use structure to bring about the development of its ideas? The structure of this poem is very unique. Frost loosely follows the Shakespearian sonnet and the Petrarchan sonnet. However, Frost also incorporates his own version of a sonnet. This unique hybridization of different forms of sonnets furthers Frosts style of writing through ambiguity. A Shakespearean sonnet is suppose to end in a couplet that The fact is the sweetest dream that labor presents an answer to a question or problem knows./ My long scythe whispered and left the that is introduced at the start of the poem. hay to make (lines 13-14) However, Frost does not follow a Shakespearean sonnet or a Petrarchan sonnet. This creates a sense of uncertainty throughout the poem from the readers perspective and from the tone of the poem. This also adds to the theme of creation through destruction because in destroying the two most common forms of sonnets, Frost creates his own sonnet that is just as special. The poems structure is divided by its change in tone. At the start of the poem, the tone is one of destruction, with the scythe carving down the elds of grass. Tone adds to the overall structure of the poem by bringing attention to how Frost does not follow the standard Shakespearean sonnet or Petrarchan sonnet. The primary tone creates a sense of dread, if not of death. This furthers the theme of creation through destruction by introducing destruction to the poem. However as the poem nears the end, the tone becomes one of creation. This is in stark contras to the tone at the start of the poem. Although this sense of creation at the end of the poem does not satisfy the two end couplet rule of the Shakespearean sonnet, it further places emphasis on Frosts own form of a sonnet that provides the poem with that of a novel discovery. This then completes the theme of creation through destruction by portraying the creation that came of the destruction the scythe causes.

And that was my long scythe whispering to the ground (line 2)

Not without feeble-pointed spikes of owers/ (Pale orchises), and scared a bright g reen snake (lines 11-12)

What use of sound is used by the poet?

Frost Commentary: Mowing

Frost uses sound sense within the poem. At the start of the poem, Frost uses sound sense to allow the reader to imagine the speaker in an isolated situation where there is no sound except that of his scythe that is cutting through the cellulose structures. The scythe is typically an image of death. By incorporating alliteration to the start of the poem, Frost subconsciously provides the reader wight the sound of the scythe as it swishes through the eld. Figuratively speaking, the whispering of the scythe can also symbolize the approaching of death because when death is far a way, one can neither see nor hear it. However, as death approaches, the speaker now sees the scythe and hears the whisperings of death. The speaker then begins to ponder what the scythe whispered and whether or not this was just his imagination. This creates a juxtaposition between reality and the supernatural world. Frost creates a sense of uncertainty by having the speaker question whether or not the scythe whispered something. This then creates an ominous tone at the start of the poem, as if death is nearing and beginning to loom over the speaker. The lack of sound is signicant within the poem. From the start of the poem, there is a sense that the speaker is all alone. With the lack of sound, it is as if the silence is pressing in on the speaker, creating the lack of sound (whenever one is alone and all is quite, the silence usually presses in on one). This lack of sound further emphasize the isolation of the speaker.

There was never a sound beside the wood but one,/ And that was my long scythe whispering to the ground (lines 1-2)

What was it whispered? I know not well myself (Line 3)

Something perhaps, about the lack of sound/ And that was why it whispered and did not speak (lines 5-6)

What are the allusions and how do they contribute to the overall theme of the poem?

Frost Commentary: Mowing

One of the allusions within the poem was to a funeral dirge from Shakespeares Cymbeline. In doing so, Frost places emphasis in the theme of creation through destruction. The allusion refers to the fact that everything ultimately comes to an end, and not to fear death. This parallels with the idea of death that is introduced through the scythe. In alluding to the poem, frost creates a sense of uselessness because no matter what one does, death and destruction will come. The allusion to the snake in the garden of eden is signicant in furthering the theme of creation through destruction. The snake ultimately destroyed the lives of Adam and Eve by causing them to be banned from the Garden of Eden. Through the allusion to the snake from the Garden of Eden, Frost places emphasis on the temptations in life that causes one to stray from the path, or the path of destruction. However just as Adam and Eve, from the path of destruction, salvation or creation is found. There is an allusion to death (grim reaper) throughout the poem through the constant references to his scythe. The allusion to the grim reaper furthered the idea of destruction within the theme of creation through destruction. From a different perspective, death takes lives (destruction), but in doing so allows other forms of life (creation) to take its place.

Perhaps it was something about the heat of the sun (line 4)

And scared a bright green snake (line 12)

My long scythe whispered and left the hay to make (line 14)

What is the signicance of the personas characterization to the poems theme(s)? Frost places an emphasis on the isolation of the speaker as he is reaping the eld. Frost places the speaker together with the forces and objects of nature. In doing so, frost juxtaposes the destruction that man causes with the creation of nature, furthering the theme of creation through destruction.

There was never a sound beside the wood but one (line 1)

Frost Commentary: Mowing

The mentions the fairy and elf to himself to contrast reality to the supernatural world. The reader sees doubt rising within the speaker as to whether or not the scythe actually whispered to him. By comparing the scythe whispering to a fairy and elf the speaker is able to ascertain that the whispering of the scythe is not a gment of his imagination. Here, it is evident that there is a mild destruction of the speakers state of mind and the creation of his own justication for the whisperings of the scythe, which furthers the theme of creation through destruction.

Or easy old at the and of fay or elf (line 8)

The theme of creation through destruction is also exemplied through the end results of the speakers labor in the eld. The speaker is destroying the eld to make hay. However from the destruction of the eld, he creates a The fact is the sweetest dream that labor sense of accomplishment and fruits of his knows./ My long scythe whispered and left the labor to be even more rewarding. The hay to make (line 13-14) personas characterization is overall one of isolation and hardworking. This characterization ultimately furthered the theme of creation through destruction within the poem.