Mowing  By Robert Frost  Stephan Henry and Alex Bowman

Robert Frost American Poet First Books- “A Boy’s Will” and “North of Boston” Mowing is located in “A Boy’s Will” Frost makes character wonder about his world. Also about hard work.

Audio Recording  There was never a sound beside the wood but one,  And that was my long scythe whispering to the ground.  What was it it whispered? I knew not well myself;  Perhaps it was something about the heat of the sun,  Something, perhaps, about the lack of sound –  And that was why it whispered and did not speak.  It was no dream of the gift of idle hours,  Or easily gold at the hand of fay or elf.  Anything more than the truth would have seemed too weak  To the earnest love that laid the swale in rows,  Not without feeble-pointed spikes of flowers  (Pale orchises), and scared a bright green snake.  The fact is the sweetest dream that labor knows.  My long scythe whispered and left the hay to make.

Summary of “Mowing”  Mowing with scythe.  Scythe whispers to ground.  Questions what scythe is saying.  Elaborates on answer.  Finishes poem.

Audience  Hard workers  Non-Hard workers

Setting  1800’s  Open field of grass  Rural area  Summer

Purpose of Poem  Contemplation:  Meaning of work  Joy of accomplishment  Comparison:  Hard workers  Non-Hard workers

Central Theme  Accomplishment is the reward of hard work.

Rhyme Scheme and Rhythm  Rhyme scheme- ABC ABD ECD GEH GH  Two lines of iambic pentameter; lines 5 and 12.  Most lines have 11 or 12 syllables

Personification  Use of personification  Scythe  “….my long scythe whispering to the ground.” (2)  “Tuft of flowers”: “And hear his long scythe whispering to the ground.” (Line 34)

Structure  Sonnet (14 lines)  Neither Petrarchan nor Shakespearean  Uses elements from both  Enjambment  Lines 9 and 11  All other lines are end-stopped

Diction  Diction-  “Or easy gold at the hand of fay or elf” (8).  “ To the earnest love that laid the swale in rows” (10).

Imagery  Imagery - Description of scene in the first 3 lines:  “There was never a sound beside the wood but one”.  “And that was my long scythe whispering to the ground.”.  “What was it it whispered?”. (Consonance)

Symbolism  Scythe = work  Pale orchises = obstacle  Scared bright green snake = obstacle  Lack of sound = method of work  Heat of the sun = stress

Tone  Contemplative  Outreaching  Respectful

Metaphor  “It was no dream of the gift of idle hours” (7).  “The fact is the sweetest dream that labor knows” (13).

Irony  “The sweetest dream..”  Hard work pays off

Allusion  Fay  Elf  Pale orchises – “Tuft of Flowers”

Funny Connection?  “A Tuft of Flowers”  Same Mower  Same process at least  Mower, the swale in rows  “ ‘Men work together,' I told him from the heart, `Whether they work together or apart.’ ” (Lines 41,42).

Works Cited  "Frost's Early Poems." Sparknotes. (2012): n. page. Print.  Shmoop Editorial Team. "Birches Audio, Video, Music, Photos" Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov Web. 26 Sep