A Considerable Speck
(Microscopic)
A speck that would have been beneath my sight
On any but a paper sheet so white
Set off across what I had written there.
And I had idly poised my pen in air
To stop it with a period of ink
When something strange about it made me think,
This was no dust speck by my breathing blown,
But unmistakably a living mite
With inclinations it could call its own.
It paused as with suspicion of my pen,
And then came racing wildly on again
To where my manuscript was not yet dry;
Then paused again and either drank or smelt--
With loathing, for again it turned to fly.
Plainly with an intelligence I dealt.
It seemed too tiny to have room for feet,
Yet must have had a set of them complete
To express how much it didn't want to die.
It ran with terror and with cunning crept.
It faltered: I could see it hesitate;
Then in the middle of the open sheet
Cower down in desperation to accept
Whatever I accorded it of fate.
I have none of the tenderer-than-thou
Collectivistic regimenting love
With which the modern world is being swept.
But this poor microscopic item now!
Since it was nothing I knew evil ofI let it lie there till I hope it slept.
I have a mind myself and recognize
Mind when I meet with it in any guise
No one can know how glad I am to find
On any sheet the least display of mind.
(c) Robert Frost
I like this poem because it discusses how things can be seemingly insignificant, when in reality they are extremely important. For example, the bug in the poem is microscopic and the speaker barely even notices it at first, but when he goes to kill it, he realizes that it has a life as well and it has the right to life. The poem speaks to me becasuse it reminds me not to take things for granted and not to ignore the things that seem unimportant. It reminds me to be thankful for the things I have because they can esaily be taken away, much like the speaker could have taken the life of the bug.
Nothing Gold Can Stay
Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
(c) Robert Frost
(c) Ferdinand Georg Waldmuller
"Nothing Gold Can Stay" relates to Waldmuller's "The Happy Family" because in the poem, the speaker discusses how the most valuable things in life do not last forever. The painting depicts a family whose members are all together enjoying life and each other's company. Looking at the painting, one can see that the family is happy, which is extremely valuable. However, the children will not stay young, and the parents will not live forever, and the moment only lasts a moment. Likewise, spring's green leaf only lasts until it falls to the ground in autumn, illustrating the speaker's notion that the most valuable things in life only last for a short tme.
(Microscopic)
A speck that would have been beneath my sight
On any but a paper sheet so white
Set off across what I had written there.
And I had idly poised my pen in air
To stop it with a period of ink
When something strange about it made me think,
This was no dust speck by my breathing blown,
But unmistakably a living mite
With inclinations it could call its own.
It paused as with suspicion of my pen,
And then came racing wildly on again
To where my manuscript was not yet dry;
Then paused again and either drank or smelt--
With loathing, for again it turned to fly.
Plainly with an intelligence I dealt.
It seemed too tiny to have room for feet,
Yet must have had a set of them complete
To express how much it didn't want to die.
It ran with terror and with cunning crept.
It faltered: I could see it hesitate;
Then in the middle of the open sheet
Cower down in desperation to accept
Whatever I accorded it of fate.
I have none of the tenderer-than-thou
Collectivistic regimenting love
With which the modern world is being swept.
But this poor microscopic item now!
Since it was nothing I knew evil ofI let it lie there till I hope it slept.
I have a mind myself and recognize
Mind when I meet with it in any guise
No one can know how glad I am to find
On any sheet the least display of mind.
(c) Robert Frost
I like this poem because it discusses how things can be seemingly insignificant, when in reality they are extremely important. For example, the bug in the poem is microscopic and the speaker barely even notices it at first, but when he goes to kill it, he realizes that it has a life as well and it has the right to life. The poem speaks to me becasuse it reminds me not to take things for granted and not to ignore the things that seem unimportant. It reminds me to be thankful for the things I have because they can esaily be taken away, much like the speaker could have taken the life of the bug.
Nothing Gold Can Stay
Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
(c) Robert Frost
(c) Ferdinand Georg Waldmuller
"Nothing Gold Can Stay" relates to Waldmuller's "The Happy Family" because in the poem, the speaker discusses how the most valuable things in life do not last forever. The painting depicts a family whose members are all together enjoying life and each other's company. Looking at the painting, one can see that the family is happy, which is extremely valuable. However, the children will not stay young, and the parents will not live forever, and the moment only lasts a moment. Likewise, spring's green leaf only lasts until it falls to the ground in autumn, illustrating the speaker's notion that the most valuable things in life only last for a short tme.
The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
(c) Robert Frost
In this poem, the speaker uses an a-b-a-c-b rhyming scheme, which makes it more pleasant-sounding and emphasizes the most important aspects. He uses the image of a fork in the road to illustrate how we all face decisions in life, and we must make our own path instead of simply following everyone else. He also employs simple diction to produce a tone of equality between the reader and himself. He states the he tells it "with a sigh" to show that our decisions are not always easy but we must do what we know is right. regardless of what others might think of our actions.
And that has made all the difference.
(c) Robert Frost
In this poem, the speaker uses an a-b-a-c-b rhyming scheme, which makes it more pleasant-sounding and emphasizes the most important aspects. He uses the image of a fork in the road to illustrate how we all face decisions in life, and we must make our own path instead of simply following everyone else. He also employs simple diction to produce a tone of equality between the reader and himself. He states the he tells it "with a sigh" to show that our decisions are not always easy but we must do what we know is right. regardless of what others might think of our actions.
1 comment:
I liked the way you responded to your poem about Robert Frost. I think it's very true that people often see things as non-important when really, they can be very important. Such as the relationship between human and insects, which is why I love your response to this poem!
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