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 gray
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
Even though these images are gray and loved by Frost's personification of Sorrow, I think they illustrate that there is still beauty even though it is muted and cold.
Beautiful! I haven't read any Frost in years but now I feel like digging out my poetry books. I agree with what you said about there still being beauty, even if it's cold and gray outside.
ReplyDelete@Kelly,
ReplyDeleteI am really starting to love him lately! I have never read much poetry, so I decided to read one poem a day and try to discover it in small doses. Right now I am working through a free collection of Robert Frost I found for my kindle. If you know of any other good poetry let me know what I should tackle next!
hmmmm that's funny i've been on tour with a band called My November Guest, named after this poem, and I've been meaning to read it. I went to your face book to invite you to the provo show and this was posted there. So... Thanks! i have now read the poem and didn't have to go search it out. Ha! Anyways we're on a charity tour raising money for One Day's Wages to take to pakistani flood victims. We play in Provo at muse music on nov 4th @7pm you should grab your hubby and come. It would be really fun to see you :).
ReplyDelete-Kris Larson
I love, love, love Robert Frost. He is my favorite poet, and my favorite of his poems is "Mending Wall." Make sure to read that one.
ReplyDeleteAnother poet I quite like is Sylvia Plath. She's a little crazy and her poetry is kind of intense, so I don't know if you'll like her or not, but you should at least read a few of her poems. "The Moon and the Yew Tree," "Lady Lazarus," and the one about melons (I can't remember it's name off the top of my head) are my favorites.
Also, off topic, do you have my copy of Rachmaninoff's theme on Paganini? I can't seem to find it in my piano music.
Allison! It's good to find you on here. I tried reading Sylvia Plath when I was younger and I remember liking her although I don't think I got through the whole book. I vaguely remember the one about melons. I'll have to look up those poems, thanks for the recommendations!
ReplyDeleteAs for the piano music, I remember sorting through my music before I moved and putting the music on the table and then Scott told me he would drop it off at your apartment when he dropped off an announcement for Audrey. I will check through my music, talk to Scott when he wakes up, and check at the White House. Sorry it is missing! Hope you are enjoying Boston. :)