By: Robert Frost
Apoorva Trivedi
Significant
Biographical Data
Robert L. Frost: March 26,
1874 – January 29 1963
Often used themes involving
rural life in New England
(Born in CA, but after 11 yrs
moved to NE area)
Won 4(four) Pulitzer Prizes
First poem was “My
Butterfly: An Elegy”
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
I will now select a classmate to
read for us.
 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
The Poem’s Speaker
The speaker is the author
He expresses the setting of the
poem
He allows readers to unknowingly
infer that he dislikes “November
Days” but it becomes evident at the
conclusion that either he has
become accustomed to the
environment or he simply has
learned to enjoy these days.
 It coincides with his particular
upbringing
 His move from CA may trigger
a thought that he is
unaccustomed to the weather,
however, this is incorrect.
Attitude toward subjects
 The subjects are:
1) Sorrow as an uninvited
guest
2) November days
 1) The author enjoys
feeling secret and
mysterious to Sorrow.
 2) Initially, the transition
from an equatorial
region to a northeastern
one probably proved to
be challenging, but the
author enjoys these days
now.
An Unusual analysis
 The ending is key to the story; it is the denoument of
the story
 Sorrow’s misconception is that the November Days are
associated with her and are therefore inherently
intertwined together with her
 Her misconception arises from this and is linked to the
surprise ending when the author enjoys the days, yet
does not tell Sorrow because he feels it is fruitless to
do so. (to connect an intrinsically evil natured emotion
to emotions that invoke happiness)
Literary Devices - Organization
 Frequently uses brachylogy; is deceiving because it
tricks readers into believing the poem is open
 Deceivingly uses chiaroscuro; contrasts the dark days
of November
 Uses technopaegnion; cleverness in the ending
 Iambic tetrameter and four stanzas
Specific Organization
where Sorrow is introduced The unraveling of the truth
 Lines 1-13: Sorrow is
 Lines 13-20
introduced
 The atmosphere is effectively
captured
 The reader assumes many
things
 The author conveys his
opposing ideals
 Surprise – adds to effect
 Fits into his upbringing;
describes his adaptation and
liking of the November Days
Sorrow- personification of a human emotion and is used to
associate weather with the emotion itself. Sorrow questions why
the author does not enjoy the weather and nature.
Weather- imagery here resides around detailed description of
the negative effects of pre-winter conditions. It builds the
outlook of the reader and disposes the reader to negative
emotions regarding this weather and as a result, the reader
expects the same from the author.
Diction and Syntax
 Colloquial standard -consistent
 When words like “vexed” appear, they draw attention
to the reader
 Other divergences occur to preserve rhyme scheme of
abaab
 vain- important to understand the meaning behind
this word refers to fruitless, or not able to achieve the
desireable outcome. (rather than arrogant, etc.)
Diction and Syntax continued
 The conditions described are excellent
 They are based on close observation; perhaps through
living through these conditions, the author has started
to enjoy the weather
 The adjectives used are accurate
This poem begins with the introduction of Sorrow. It is
key that Sorrow arrives during November. Furthermore, the
author describes the bleak conditions New England faces with
clear, precise word choice. The reader can be easily misled into
believing that the author does not enjoy the conditions.
The second section tells the readers otherwise. It
furthermore explains that perhaps the author adapted over time
to the weather and even has been enjoying it for a long time. He
ends by stating that it would be useless to tell Sorrow this
because she would not understand.