"The Oven Bird" by Robert Frost

A- Robert Frost lived from 1874 to 1963. He was born in San Francisco and later lived in rural New England. He attended college at Dartmouth College. He married Elinor White. He was described by his friends as difficult and unpleasant. He suffered from depression. He suffered from several tragedies, including the death of his daughter, son and wife. He taught English and theater at Pinkerton Academy for six years. He wrote short stories and poems. He published several short stories, and novels, both fiction and non fiction. He also won several awards including the Pulitzer Prize.


B- "He says that leaves are old and that for flowers
Mid summer is to spring as one to ten.
He says the early petal-fall is past."

C - The poem talks about the transition between time, seasons, change, and death. Here in this poem you see a subtle change between the season's scenery. And you also see a change when an older forest is destroyed to make way for a new highway in line 10. I have had a similar experience in my life through looking back at old photographs of my self and friends and realizing how much that I have really changed. I realize how quick life is and how quickly death can come. I enjoy camping out in the woods and appreciate the trees and nature around me. I enjoy Frost's relationship in his poem to the passage of time and the seasons of life.

Tragedy is represented in this poem by the relation of the changing seasons to the changing seasons of our life. As the seasons change quickly and the leaves die, so do our human lives and time on this earth.