Text analysis “It is Almost the Year Two Thousand” Approaching Literary Genres p. 39 Millennium

It is Almost the Year Two Thousand by Robert Frost To start the world of old We had one age of gold Not labored out of mines, And some say there are signs, The second such has come, The true Millennium, The final golden glow To end it. And if so (and science ought to know) We may well raise our heads From weeding garden beds And annotating books To watch this end de luxe.

FOCUS ON THE MEANING What was the mythical Golden Age to which the poem refers? It is a mythical age at the beginning of time when people were happy, in harmony with themselves and nature. It was not necessary to work (see lines 2-3), because the earth produced its fruits spontaneously without any effort on man’s part to cultivate it. The myth of the Golden Age is the pagan equivalent of the Earthly Paradise (Eden) in the Bible. Has it gone forever? It seems that it has not gone forever : the “true Millenium” will come, bringing the end of time (lines 5-8) How is the future second Golden Age called by some? “The True Millennium” (line 6). Notice the title of the poem, which explicitly mentions the year 2000. We find here an apocalyptic vision of the world ending with a final golden blow, a sort of reverse of the initial Big Bang.

FOCUS ON THE MEANING If the new Golden Age is really coming, what does the poet suggest we should do? Highlight in red the examples he gives in the poem. He suggests that we should stop doing our everyday-life , enjoying the new Golden Age. He uses the examples of gardening and academic study: we should stop pulling out weeds (“We well may raise our heads /From weeding garden beds” - see lines 10-11) and doing critical work on books (“annotating books” – see line 12) in order “To watch this end de luxe” (see line 13). The final line is to be taken (give reasons for your choice) seriously ironically as a scientific suggestion The final line is to be taken ironically. In fact, the poet says, we know nothing about the world ‘s end (notice that only “some say there are signs / The second such has come” – line 4-5) and in the meantime we cannot stop doing what we do every day. Also notice the irony of “And if so / (And science ought to know)” – lines 8-9: science in reality knows nothing of a Golden Age, which is a myth and not something based on historical evidnce.

Not laboured out of mines And some say there are signs, It is Almost the Year Two Thousand by Robert Frost To start the world of old We had an age of gold Not laboured out of mines And some say there are signs, The second such has come, The true Millennium, The final golden glow To end it. And if so (and science ought to know) We well may raise our heads From weeding garden beds And annotating books To watch this end de luxe. FOCUS ON THE BEATS The first line, as we can see, has a regular alternation of weak and strong stresses: such a pattern is technically called iamb. Is the same pattern repeated in the poem? Yes, the same line pattern is reapeted in the poem. In each line we find 3 unstressed syllables alternated with 3 stressed syllables (i.e. three iambs) Write the stress pattern of each line.