1. Original Text
There is a singer everyone has heard,
Loud, a mid-summer and a mid-wood bird,
Who makes the solid tree trunks sound again.
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,
When pear and cherry bloom went down in showers
On sunny days a moment overcast;
And comes that other fall we name the fall.
He says the highway dust is over all.
The bird would cease and be as other birds
But that he knows in singing not to sing.
The question that he frames in all but words
Is what to make of a diminished thing.
2. Initial Reaction
The poem seems to be about a bird that is enjoying the summer. The bird is having fun and loves to sing but is sad that the summer is almost over. He doesn’t know how he should feel because even though summer, which is the best time of the year, is still going on, it is going to end soon. Once it ends, the bird will again be sad and wish that the summer would hurry up and start again. Robert Frost seems to be trying to equate this to human life or something of the sort.
3. Paraphrase
There is a person everyone has heard about,
Noisy, a middle of the summer and middle of the woods type of bird,
Who is so loud that he makes the tree trunks vibrate.
He sees the leaves as old things and that in regards to flowers
Mid-summer is to spring as gold is to dirt.
He says that the early beauty is all past,
When pear and cherry bloom flew to the ground like showers
On sunny days with a few clouds;
And comes the other decline we call fall.
He says that the highway dust is everywhere.
The bird would stop and be like the other birds
But that he knows that while singing not to sing.
The question is asks in everything but words
Is what to do with this almost gone thing.
4. SWIFTT
SW = Syntax/Word Choice
Frost uses words that give a true summer feeling. He writes about pears and cherries blooming. He perfectly describes those peaceful mid-summer days that many wish for. The poem has an obvious rhyme scheme of AABCBDCDEEA’FA’F. Even though the poem is 14 lines it does not follow any of the rhyme schemes of sonnets. His word choice makes it so that there are no dark or foreboding words, but, rather, he works to keep it bright while asking a hard question at the end of the poem.
I = Imagery
Frost is elegant use of words allows readers to imagine the picture he is trying to paint with his poem. The beginning of the poem is like a description of nature. He writes about a bird and the way the bird sings. His description of how the “pear and cherry bloom went down in showers” allows readers to imagine a beautiful scene and warms the soul.
F = Figurative Language
Frost uses some figurative language in “The Oven Bird” to compare a bird to humans. In the first line, he writes “There is a singer everyone has heard.” Frost is trying to make people think about how this singer could mean a bird or a human. Frost uses personification by saying that a bird frames a question “in all but words”. His major use of figurative language is to equate this questioning and confused bird to himself or others.
T = Tone
The tone of the poem is one of remorse and grief at what has been lost. Many poems talk about time and how once it is used up, it never comes back. Frost understands this and is saddened that the first half of the summer is gone. He is confused because he doesn’t know if he should feel sad that part of the summer is gone or if he should feel happy because he still has half of the summer left.
T = Theme
Time, time, and Time are what all men worry about. It is something that can never be regained. Frost brings this problem to the simplest of desires. Seasons are mortal and so is the happiness that one is feeling at the moment. The theme of the poem is the sadness of losing half of the summer. It is the confusion of if someone should be happy that half the glass is full or be sad that half the glass is empty.
5. Conclusion
My initial reaction was wrong of some levels. Frost was actually equating the sadness of a bird that misses the flowers and leaves that could have been used to make a nest to that of humans who are sad that they wasted half of the summer. The poem is actually about time lost. Frost wonders what to do with the half that is left of a thing. The anticipation of the summer that started in the spring is all gone, and the realization that summer is almost half way over begins to kick in during the mid-summer. Frost questions whether optimism or pessimism is the better thing to feel at that time.
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