Robert Frost is a poet who is well known for making the meanings to his poems ambiguous. The same holds true for his poem “Mowing.” The poem itself appears to be simply a story about a man cutting hay, but Frost uses a large number of literary devices to separate his work from the field. In this poem in particular, Frost’s devices range from metaphor to diction, and each use of device brings its own unique meaning to the poem. In one example, Frost uses extended metaphor. The extended metaphor is, in essence, the entire poem. Like any metaphor, each individual person will interpret their own meaning from it. Personally, I believe that the poem has multiple possible interpretations, and one is about betrayal. The reason for this is that, in
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This is seen when Frost says, “…that was my long scythe whispering to the ground./ What was it it whispered? I knew not myself” (2-3). Generally, whispering, or speaking in general, is seen as a friendly gesture. At the end of the poem, however, the storyline takes a turn, as “My long scythe whispered and left the hay to make” (14). It is during this seemingly friendly action that the act of cutting the hay was done. This represents the fact that betrayal, which is a negative action, occurs during the most seemingly friendly gestures. Another interpretation is that the poem is about both the creation and destruction of life. This can be seen in the first line: “There was never a sound beside the wood but one” (1). Frost states that there is nearly no activity in the forest and, most likely, no life. Therefore, the fact that the only sound in the forest is the sound made by the …show more content…
This is seen, specifically with the scythe. This occurs in several occasions, when Frost says, “And that was my long scythe whispering to the ground/… And that was why it whispered and did not speak./… My long scythe whispered and left the hay to make” (2,6,14). The reason for this personification is that the poem does not actually present a character. While the word my is used in certain places within the poem in order to show that there is a human present during all of the poem’s happenings, the person is not who is carrying out the actions. Because of this, the scythe becomes the poem’s main character. This allows the poem to be subject to further interpretation and lets the reader have their own beliefs about the actual meaning. When it is a human carrying out the work’s actions, it causes the reader to believe that the meaning of the poem is quite literal; however, when it is inanimate objects that are carrying out actions, which in itself is for the most part impossible, it allows the reader to open their minds and search for
This is seen when Frost says, “…that was my long scythe whispering to the ground./ What was it it whispered? I knew not myself” (2-3). Generally, whispering, or speaking in general, is seen as a friendly gesture. At the end of the poem, however, the storyline takes a turn, as “My long scythe whispered and left the hay to make” (14). It is during this seemingly friendly action that the act of cutting the hay was done. This represents the fact that betrayal, which is a negative action, occurs during the most seemingly friendly gestures. Another interpretation is that the poem is about both the creation and destruction of life. This can be seen in the first line: “There was never a sound beside the wood but one” (1). Frost states that there is nearly no activity in the forest and, most likely, no life. Therefore, the fact that the only sound in the forest is the sound made by the …show more content…
This is seen, specifically with the scythe. This occurs in several occasions, when Frost says, “And that was my long scythe whispering to the ground/… And that was why it whispered and did not speak./… My long scythe whispered and left the hay to make” (2,6,14). The reason for this personification is that the poem does not actually present a character. While the word my is used in certain places within the poem in order to show that there is a human present during all of the poem’s happenings, the person is not who is carrying out the actions. Because of this, the scythe becomes the poem’s main character. This allows the poem to be subject to further interpretation and lets the reader have their own beliefs about the actual meaning. When it is a human carrying out the work’s actions, it causes the reader to believe that the meaning of the poem is quite literal; however, when it is inanimate objects that are carrying out actions, which in itself is for the most part impossible, it allows the reader to open their minds and search for