The fall of the year reminds me of Robert Frost's poetry. He was not the New England sentimentalist that everyone thinks: his poetry could be haunting, dark and sad. As a poet he was a natural brooder, as a man he was often depressed. I'm not on long tonight but couldn't resist stopping by to post some favorite poetry lines and muse about the clear and cool autumn weather that has arrived on our ridge after several weeks of murky, tropical torpor. It feels like fall in Kentucky at last. PHOTO: The September view from Irene's porch on the day we helped "fill silo" at her farm.In the meantime, projects are being accomplished and I'm "getting my house in order" for the holiday season and indoor months ahead when I can also focus on more writing–and blogging–again.
My November Guest
My Sorrow, when she's here with me,
Thinks these dark days of autumn rain
Are beautiful as days can be;
She loves the bare, the withered tree;
She walks the sodden pasture lane.
Her pleasure will not let me stay.
She talks and I am fain to list:
She's glad the birds are gone away,
She's glad her simple worsted grey
Is silver now with clinging mist.
The desolate, deserted trees,
The faded earth, the heavy sky,
The beauties she so truly sees,
She thinks I have no eye for these,
And vexes me for reason why.
Not yesterday I learned to know
The love of bare November days
Before the coming of the snow,
But it were vain to tell her so,
And they are better for her praise.
~ Robert Frost
8 comments:
Thank you so much for sharing this poem. Sometimes I forget to read poetry, but when I do I'm always glad that I have.
You are welcome! I love to read poetry aloud and to myself. Some favorite poets, aside from Frost, are Emily Dickinson, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath and more recently, Mary Oliver and Jane Kenyon, both deceased in past decade or so. I also enjoy Tennyson, Wordsworth, Auden, Ted Hughes, Peter Davison, Dana Gioia and Donald Hall from the male pantheon. Of that entire list only Gioia and Hall are still living.
Here is an excellent essay, "Can Poetry Matter?" written by Gioia: http://www.danagioia.net/essays/ecpm.htm
Fall is my favorite time of year, even here in Florida where the days are still hot.
i love this poem, so good to read it today.
A lovely poem!!
Okay now maybe I can type correctly...That poem is hauntingly beautiful. A floral design friend did an Interpretive design to that poem. It was quite breathtaking.
Great stuff ... the English poet Edward Thomas is my all-time favourite, and he was encouraged to switch from prose to poetry by his great friend Frost. This is the first time I've really seen the connection between the two men in one of their poems. So thank you for that
Joanna
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