The Tuft Of Flowers Analysis

A Boy's Will1913I went to turn the grass once after one

Who mowed it in the dew before the sun.The dew was gone that made his blade so keen

Before I came to view the levelled scene.I looked for him behind an isle of trees;

I listened for his whetstone on the breeze.But he had gone his way, the grass all mown,

And I must be, as he had been,--alone,"As all must be," I said within my heart,

"Whether they work together or apart."But as I said it, swift there passed me by

On noiseless wing a bewildered butterfly,Seeking with memories grown dim over night

Some resting flower of yesterday's delight.And once I marked his flight go round and round,

As where some flower lay withering on the ground.And then he flew as far as eye could see,

And then on tremulous wing came back to me.I thought of questions that have no reply,

And would have turned to toss the grass to dry;But he turned first, and led my eye to look

At a tall tuft of flowers beside a brook,A leaping tongue of bloom the scythe had spared

Beside a reedy brook the scythe had bared.I left my place to know them by their name,

Finding them butterfly-weed when I came.The mower in the dew had loved them thus,

By leaving them to flourish, not for us,Nor yet to draw one thought of ours to him,

But from sheer morning gladness at the brim.The butterfly and I had lit upon,

Nevertheless, a message from the dawn,That made me hear the wakening birds around,

And hear his long scythe whispering to the ground,And feel a spirit kindred to my own;

So that henceforth I worked no more alone;But glad with him, I worked as with his aid,

And weary, sought at noon with him the shade;And dreaming, as it were, held brotherly speech

With one whose thought I had not hoped to reach."Men work together," I told him from the heart,

"Whether they work together or apart."

.: review of tuft of flowers :.

tuft of flowers exemplifies robert frosts true meaning of the world of friendship and alienation, this poen is written in strict verse and is key to frosts persona, frost once said "writing without structure is like playing tennis without a net", frost seems to be in the kind of aristocratic nature of life, in comparison to someone such as walt whitman who writes in free verse and is a writer from the people, for the common people. frost seems to wonder in his poem why the whole garden has been flattened whereas this tiny piece of flowers has been left, this shows how frost believes that it is very homosexual.

| Posted on 2006-02-15 | by Approved Guest

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This poem is a paradoxical one, namely in the last lines. The fact that "men work together, whether they work together or apart" is literally paradoxical because of its contradictory implications regarding the actual physical and "spiritual" existence of people.
What Frost means in this poem is the following:
In order to feel the presence of another individual, it is not necessary for that individual to be physically present at the time, rather only his presence in your heart is what matters.
This poem can be interpreted biographically, considering Robert Frost's difficult life. He suffered the losses of many of his loved ones, and may have written this poem as an outlet in order to express his true feelings. Even though his family members were deceased, he still remembers them in this poem in spirit.


| Posted on 2005-06-16 | by Approved Guest