A Girl’s Garden
A neighbor of mine in the village
Likes to tell how one spring
When she was a girl on the farm, she did
A childlike thing.
One day she asked her father
To give her a garden plot
To plant and tend and reap herself,
And he said, "Why not?"
In casting about for a corner
He thought of an idle bit
Of walled-off ground where a shop had stood,
And he said, "Just it."
And he said, "That ought to make you
An ideal one-girl farm,
And give you a chance to put some strength
On your slim-jim arm."
It was not enough of a garden
Her father said, to plow;
So she had to work it all by hand,
But she don't mind now.
She wheeled the dung in a wheelbarrow
Along a stretch of road;
But she always ran away and left
Her not-nice load,
And hid from anyone passing.
And then she begged the seed.
She says she thinks she planted one
Of all things but weed.
A hill each of potatoes,
Radishes, lettuce, peas,
Tomatoes, beets, beans, pumpkins, corn,
And even fruit trees.
And yes, she has long mistrusted
That a cider-apple
In bearing there today is hers,
Or at least may be.
Her crop was a miscellany
When all was said and done,
A little bit of everything,
A great deal of none.
Now when she sees in the village
How village things go,
Just when it seems to come in right,
She says, "I know!
"It's as when I was a farmer..."
Oh never by way of advice!
And she never sins by telling the tale
To the same person twice.
(Meyer 366)
Robert Frost, 1916
Robert Frost’s poem, A Girl’s Garden tells the story of a girl who asks her father for
some land of her own, to grow her own garden. The poem extols all she went through for her
little plot, and how much it taught her of life. Frost uses form, imagery, and tone to create the
pleasant mood, of this young girls life.
Frost’s form of this poem, in which every other line rhymes, keeps the poem together and
cohesive. It also reinforces the work the girl put into her garden. She had to plow and plant and
tend all by hand, and with great care; just as Frost put great care and effort into the rhyme
scheme of this poem.
As Frost took care to set up the rhythm, he also set a great scene. The imagery in this
poem reveals the garden and the girl toiling hard. The reader sees the girl wheeling her barrow of
manure down the road and leaving it there.
“She wheeled the dung in a wheelbarrow
Along a stretch of road;
But she always ran away and left
Her not-nice load,” (Meyer 366)
They see her plant each seed, and watch the sprouts grow. Frost does not put more words than
necessary into this, just enough, for the imagery to grow in the mind of the reader.
The tone of the poem is soft, yet pensive. Despite the difficult structure, the words are
simple, as a young girls would be. This gives the feeling of a calm innocence. There is no
dramatic emotion. Even so, as the reader reaches the end of the poem, he realizes that the garden
was more than just a garden. It was also a teaching ground. One can always get more out of an
activity than just what meets the eye.
Gathering Leaves
Spades take up leaves
No better than spoons,
And bags full of leaves
Are light as balloons.
I make a great noise
Of rustling all day
Like rabbit and deer
Running away.
But the mountains I raise
Elude my embrace,
Flowing over my arms
And into my face.
I may load and unload
Again and again
Till I fill the whole shed,
And what have I then?
Next to nothing for weight,
And since they grew duller
From contact with earth,
Next to nothing for color.
Next to nothing for use.
But a crop is a crop,
And who's to say where
The harvest shall stop?
(369)
Robert Frost, 1923
Robert Frost’s Gathering Leaves, is about just that. It captures the joy, rather than the
annoyance of having to do such a mundane activity. In this poem, Frost uses tone, imagery, and
rhythm to illustrate his feelings about gathering leaves.
The tone of this poem is surprisingly chipper. Most people groan about having to rake,
but the narrator of this poem is just the opposite. He utilizes many positive words like: better,
full, light, embrace, fill. That’s not to say there are not counteracting negatives, but these
negatives are more acknowledging. “Next to nothing for use.
But a crop is a crop...” The reader is made aware that yes, this task is mundane, but the narrator
loves it.
Frost makes use of imagery, generally, in all his poems. This poem has spectacular
imagery. The words help the reader understand why the narrator loves to gather leaves, but the
pictures he also provides put the reader right in the middle of the joy. The mountain of leaves
and the full shed can easily be seen.
“But the mountains I raise
Elude my embrace,
Flowing over my arms
And into my face.” (Meyer 369)
The rhythm of this poem is very distinct. Consistently, there are between 4 and 6
syllables in each measure. The meter is iambic dimeter. This serves the poem’s purpose of
upbeat-ness. It makes the reader feel happy as well, because the poem is going somewhere, The
reader can feel the walking and he work the narrator is putting into gathering the leaves, because
of the way the poem reads.
My Papa's Waltz
Theodore Roethke (327)
The whiskey on your breath
Could make a small boy dizzy;
But I hung on like death:
Such waltzing was not easy.
We romped until the pans
Slid from the kitchen shelf;
My mother's countenance
Could not unfrown itself.
The hand that held my wrist
Was battered on one knuckle;
At every step you missed
My right ear scraped a buckle.
You beat time on my head
With a palm caked hard by dirt,
Then waltzed me off to bed
Still clinging to your shirt.
My Papa’s Waltz, by Theodore Roethke, tells the tale of unconditional love from son to
father. This may not be done in a traditional, or even expected way, since the father is an
alcoholic. Roethke makes use of imagery and diction to reinforce the poem’s message.
The imagery in this poem is very relatable. Almost every reader could relate this scene to
their own life, or insert themselves into this situation. It is both joyous and sad, both upbeat, and
depressing. Through imagery we can feel what the narrator feels and see what he sees. “Such
waltzing was not easy. /We romped until the pans / Slid from the kitchen shelf; / My mother's
countenance / Could not unfrown itself. (Meyer 327) As a reader of this poem, there are two
scenarios we could get from this. The first is that, the young boy is literally waltzing with his
drunk father, making a mess. The second meaning we could draw is not so obvious (and could be
regarded as reading too far into it); the father could be beating his son in a drunken rage. This
duplicity makes the reader feel all the different emotions, but to feel these emotions we have to
see this scene.
The diction also adds greatly to the emotions the reader may feel. The poem is relatable
because it’s not written in old english. But also, the use of the negative words mixed with the fun
words gives us these opposing feelings as well. Words like: whiskey, death, battered, scrapped,
beat could lead the reader to taking away one meaning. And words like; dizzy, romped, waltzed
lead to a much different conclusion.
These conflicting messages given to the reader by both the imagery and diction, are much
like the contradictory nature of alcoholics’ behavior. Knowing that the author’s own father was
an alcoholic, makes it much easier to decode the poem. He used these literary devices to confuse
the reader as much as he may have been confused as a child.
I, Too, Langston Hughes, 1925
I, too, sing America.
I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.
Tomorrow,
I'll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody'll dare
Say to me,
"Eat in the kitchen,"
Then.
Besides,
They'll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed-I, too, am America.
(394)
Langston Hughes the ever impacting poet writes of the days when blacks were treated
unfairly. In his poem I, Too, Hughes uses tone, diction, and form to demonstrate the power he
truly has.
At the start of the poem the narrator talks of being sent to eat in the kitchen when
company comes. He does not get angry, rather, he is defiant and eats well to grow strong. The
tone of this poem is much like the narrator’s attitude to his treatment. The problem will not be
solved by anger, but by being strong and steady. The diction used is simple, just as the answer to
the problem is simple. There are short sentences and minimal dialogue. No flowery words or
complex sentences.
The form of this poem, also reinforces the message. It is simplistic. There is no rhyme
scheme of rhythm. The message is simple, when he becomes strong, no one will mess with him.
Besides, they will see the error of their ways, and realize that he is a person just as they are. He is
America too.
Slavery may have ended by the time the poem was written, but blacks were still not
treated fairly, and many were still employed by rich white families.
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
William Wordsworth, 1807
I WANDERED lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
(535)
William Wordsworth’s poem I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud is a bout a man , who sees
the joy/benefit in solace. First he feels as lonely as a cloud, but then he sees the crowds of
beautiful things down bellow. Wordsworth uses imagery, and symbolism to convey his message
of finding comfort in solitude.
When one reads this poem they can see the “host of golden daffodils.” as well as the lake,
the trees, the stars. This imagery, puts the reader there as well. People who are introverts
probably understand or appreciate this poem more than extroverts, because they renew their
energy by being alone, while extroverts get energy from being will others. Even so, I’d be
willing to bet that even extroverts will like this poem, because the imagery is so real. It’s easy for
someone to say, “I don’t like to be alone.”, but it’s a lot harder to say I don’t like seeing daffodils
or beautiful landscapes.
Symbolism also greatly helps the reader identify with the narrator of this poem. Putting
clouds in for loneliness, makes the concept more abstract. It’s no longer, just loneliness, it’s
beauty. Daffodil symbolism can be a little harder to decode. The daffodils could mean for hoards
of silent thought. That explanation certainly explains the last stanza.
“ They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.” (Meyer 535)
It may depend on the kind of person the reader is, as to what the daffodils symbolize. The
symbolism is what makes this poem relatable, and identifiable with the reader.