Text analysis
“It is Almost the Year Two Thousand”
Approaching Literary Genres p. 39
Millennium
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It is Almost the Year Two Thousand
by Robert Frost
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To start the world of old
We had one age of gold
Not labored out of mines,
And some say there are signs,
The second such has come,
The true Millennium,
The final golden glow
To end it. And if so
(and science ought to know)
We may well raise our heads
From weeding garden beds
And annotating books
To watch this end de luxe.
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FOCUS ON THE
MEANING
1.
What was the mythical Golden Age to which the poem refers?
• It is a mythical age at the beginning of time when people were happy, in harmony
with themselves and nature. It was not necessary to work (see lines 2-3), because the
earth produced its fruits spontaneously without any effort on man’s part to cultivate
it.
The myth of the Golden Age is the pagan equivalent of the Earthly Paradise (Eden) in
the Bible.
2. Has it gone forever?
• It seems that it has not gone forever : the “true Millenium” will come, bringing the
end of time (lines 5-8)
3. How is the future second Golden Age called by some?
• “The True Millennium” (line 6). Notice the title of the poem, which explicitly
mentions the year 2000. We find here an apocalyptic vision of the world ending with
a final golden blow, a sort of reverse of the initial Big Bang.
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4.
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FOCUS ON THE
MEANING
If the new Golden Age is really coming, what does the poet suggest we should do?
Highlight in red the examples he gives in the poem.
He suggests that we should stop doing our everyday-life , enjoying the new Golden
Age. He uses the examples of gardening and academic study: we should stop pulling
out weeds (“We well may raise our heads /From weeding garden beds” - see lines 1011) and doing critical work on books (“annotating books” – see line 12) in order “To
watch this end de luxe” (see line 13).
The final line is to be taken (give reasons for your choice)
seriously
ironically
as a scientific suggestion
The final line is to be taken ironically. In fact, the poet says, we know nothing about
the world ‘s end (notice that only “some say there are signs / The second such has
come” – line 4-5) and in the meantime we cannot stop doing what we do every day.
Also notice the irony of “And if so / (And science ought to know)” – lines 8-9: science
in reality knows nothing of a Golden Age, which is a myth and not something based
on historical evidnce.
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FOCUS ON THE
BEATS
F. The first line, as we can see, has a
regular alternation of weak and strong
stresses: such a pattern is technically
called iamb.
a. Is the same pattern repeated in the
poem?
• Yes, the same line pattern is reapeted
in the poem. In each line we find 3
unstressed syllables alternated with 3
stressed syllables (i.e. three iambs)
a. Write the stress pattern of each line.
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It is Almost the Year Two Thousand
by Robert Frost
To start the world of old
We had an age of gold
Not laboured out of mines
And some say there are signs,
The second such has come,
The true Millennium,
The final golden glow
To end it. And if so
(and science ought to know)
We well may raise our heads
From weeding garden beds
And annotating books
To watch this end de luxe.