Robert Frost's Poem of the Week

Hey everyone,

Today we will finally take a look into a piece written by our poet of the week, Robert Frost.
Let us take a moment to read the poem of the week and watch out for any literary features, for example, rhyme scheme, alliteration, irony, etc. From the examples that you have, you can compare them at the end with my commentary.
So let us get started and I hope that you enjoy this particular poem I chose:

Good Hours

by:Robert Frost

I had for my winter evening walk--
No one at all with whom to talk,
But I had the cottages in a row
Up to their shining eyes in snow.

And I thought I had the folk within:
I had the sound of a violin;
I had a glimpse through curtain laces
Of youthful forms and youthful faces.

I had such company outward bound.
I went till there were no cottages found.
I turned and repented, but coming back
I saw no window but that was black.

Over the snow my creaking feet
Disturbed the slumbering village street
Like profanation, by your leave,
At ten o'clock of a winter eve.


What did you all think?

Robert Frost is a writer that many people can enjoy and sometimes relate to. It is simple to understand, with many literary features in just a few lines. He goes straight into the point, taking us into his thoughts, hopes and dreams.
Did you notice anything of each first two and second two phrases of each stanza? I am sure you noticed that the last word of a phrase was followed by a rhyme in the last word of the phrase that followed.
Each stanza is simply four lines, however each line was enough to indulge us into wanting to know more.
Let us look at the first stanza, he gives us a lonely image of the protagonist (main character,) as he is alone. However, a sudden tint of metaphor is used when he describes the cottages, which could be what he sees in 'covered in snow.' The use of 'Up to their shining eyes,' could give a slight use of humor, however in the literal form could it be the windows of the cottage that are really shinning? Suddenly, sound interrupts what was once mere silence, a violin. This instrument takes us back through time, it creates a happy atmosphere as the character also begins to think of young images he saw between 'curtain laces,' which could have been the shades or curtains that he was actually looking through. The violin seems to have lifted up the spirit of the sad character.
He continues to say that he had friends or what he exactly said, 'company,' far away. He gives us the idea that he wanted to walk in the direction of finding them in their houses or cottage so as to seek them. However, there were no houses, hence no friends in sight. A he turns back the color imagery that was once whit, formed by the snow, is soon 'black.' This could be how he feels, through the black image.
He continues to walk back as his feet crack, which could show how they are frozen creating a crackling sound. Finally, the last line explains that it is winter eve, where snow is and the clearness of the land should create happiness, however in truth he is not happy; for he is alone.

Now, take a moment to look back at your notes (I hope you did comment on the poem before reading my commentary,) just to check if we came up with similar ideas. If not, please post other ideas that you may have come up with... I can't wait to hear from you! Read more!

Robert Frost's Poem Review update

Hey everyone!

I just wanted to let everyone know that the Robert Frost poem review will be coming out maximum Thursday evening!

I apologize for the delay.

In the meantime i would love to see what other poet everyone would want me to write about next week.

Thank you...


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A trip into John Keats's words...

Hey everyone!

It is finally time to look at a poem by our poet of the week, John Keats. We will take a sneak peak into Keats’s detailed and structured imagination and words in, ‘Ode to Psyche.’
Before we begin, let us try to figure out who Psyche is:

Greek Mythology has it that Psyche was the goddess of behavior. Aphrodite was of course jealous of Psyche’s beauty and decided to send her son Eros, shoot an arrow at her that would make her fall in love with an ugly, unsuitable man for her rank. Yet, like many Greek Mythology there is a turning point, Eros falls in love with Psyche. As for the rest of the story, I will let you look deeper into it and its meaning...
For the meantime we understand that Keats’s intention was to praise Psyche in his poem.

Take a few moments to read the poem and before looking at my understanding about it, write what you think it means. After you have written a list of everything that you thought, you can can check to see if we had similar ideas, after all a poem never has a ‘correct’ answer; it is only how you perceive it to be.

So put on your thinking hats and let us get started into the world of John Keats.

In the first line of the poem, Keats starts his readers off by

‘O GODDESS,’

this shows us who he is writing about and discreetly describes who Psyche is, without directly stating it.
In the first stanza he questions himself if it was Psyche he saw,

‘Surely I drem’d to-day, or did I see
The wingèd Psyche with awaken'd eyes?’

A question whether his vision was a dream or reality strikes us all. He continues his adventure in a forest coming upon,

‘Two fair creature, couchèd side by side.’

Suddenly, nature imagery clearly creates an intense picture of what the speaker sees. The beauty of nature is associated to love:

‘They lay calm-breathing on the bedded grass;
Their arms embracèd, and their pinions too;
Their lips touch'd not, but had not bade adieu,
As if disjoinèd by soft-handed slumber,
And ready still past kisses to outnumber
At tender eye-dawn of aurorean love.’

Through this apparition, we connect Psyche to beauty that was created through love and nature.
We then come upon color imagery, which will intensify what we see:

‘Blue, silver-white, and budded Tyrian.’

We come across the second question that we are hoping to find out:
‘But who wast thou, O happy, happy dove?
His Psyche true!’

We, along with the narrator wonder if it was Psyche who he saw amongst the two creatures; leaving that question behind our aching heads we continue craving for more words.

John Keats allows the protagonist of the poem to continue to go deeper in his dreamy world, his readers soon fall through:

‘O brightest! though too late for antique vows,
Too, too late for the fond believing lyre,’

Soon we encounter repetition:

‘When holy were the haunted forest boughs,
Holy the air, the water, and the fire;’

When we think of holy we think of divine, this could be what he considers Psyche to be. Repetition in a poem, clarifies an important value to the word. As the narrator begins to feel uplifted and happier of his encounter he begins to sing,

‘I see, and sing, by my own eyes inspired.’

Again, holy aspects are envisioned from his eyes,

‘Thy shrine, thy grove, thy oracle, thy heat
Of pale-mouth'd prophet dreaming.
Yes, I will be thy priest, and build a fane’

We experience more nature imagery as we go deeper into the forest and his imagination.

Once we fall upon the last line we find,

‘To let the warm Love in!’

Reading this we go back and relate Psyche once again as a love symbol throughout his imaginative thoughts. Notice that in the poem there is the mention of Psyche only twice, yet her name could have been merely replaced by ‘Love,’ considering it has been placed with a capital ‘L’ in the last line.

All of these ideas were something to think about, yet I am also interested to hear what you thought about ‘Ode to Psyche’ and what the narrator’s vivid and exciting words meant to you…

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