The Oven Bird Analysis

Mountain Interval1916There is a singer eveyone 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.

.: :.

Brittanie Kellner is obsessed with this poem. She thinks it is about the industrial revolution and that Mao Tse Tung is responsible for all the death (ie. of the birds).

| Posted on 2010-01-28 | by a guest

.: :.

The Oven Bird by Robert Frost is a great poem about a common belief on life. He is trying to say that when everything reaches their ‘greenest,’ things can now only go down hill. When you read the first few lines and you learn that the oven bird sings in the mid-summer, some of the audience may be confused. Usually in the middle of the summer, it is the best weather and everyone is in the full swing of summer. But Frost is not thinking this way; the cup is half empty for him. Now that he is half way through the summer he was looking forward to so much, he knows that it is just going to end soon. Frost believes that the good times happen when you are in anticipation of the summer, not when it’s half way over. Frost uses the analogy, “Mid-summer is to spring as one to ten” (line 5). This is just emphasizing exactly what I just explained. He rates spring a ten because in the spring everyone is all excited about the months to come. Summer is almost here! Mid-summer only receives a one on his scale because everything is down hill from there; there is nothing to look forward to anymore. His summer may not be going as well as he expected it to go.
Frost then goes into explaining the things that has already gone by. The ‘early petal-fall,’ the ‘pear and cherry bloom went down in showers’ already, the ‘sunny days’ with out any overcast are gone. Frost is showing what has passed already; he is showing his audience that because it is mid-summer, there is no longer anything left to look forward to. The singing birds of the summer will just become normal birds that blend in with the rest in the fall. Robert Frost is depressed about the approaching fall so much that he will not enjoy the rest of his summer.
I really enjoyed this poem because Frost really made an argument for why a person would be upset with life when everything seems perfect. It makes sense that when life is perfect, there is no other way to go except down hill. Everything will just get worse. This is depressing because how can you possibly enjoy the great times in your life when you can realize that they will soon be over? The best times happen when you are anticipating a specific event. The preparation and anticipation for prom is usually more exciting than prom itself. Once you’re there, you may just think about how all of this excitement, and it’s over in two hours! Although I prefer to look at life more positively and live life in the present, I think that The Oven Bird was a great insightful poem that is worth reading.

| Posted on 2009-12-02 | by a guest

.: :.

Okayyy..so whats the meter and rhyme scheme? if there is one?

| Posted on 2009-01-22 | by a guest

.: :.

The oven bird starts singing much later than spring, it's song is ugly and tuneless. I reckon Frost is comparing the oven bird's song to his later poetry which he fears will be 'dusty'. Not as good as the 'early petal fall'. His poetry will become like the oven birds song, not as good as other songs from birds, he fears that other poets will produce better work than him.

| Posted on 2008-05-13 | by a guest

.: Analysis of Oven Bird :.

I am currently studying Frost and I think the meaning of this poem relates to Frost's view of making the most of what is left. I think Frost relfects in this poem and the theme is the death of his children. When Frost talks about the "early petal fall" this could relate to the death of his children, who died towards the end of summer.

| Posted on 2008-04-30 | by a guest

.: creation and the fall :.

i thought this poem was about creation: you know, the bird representing God creating the universe, and when the seasons change, the people get tempted. then the fall happens, and the lion no longer lays with the lamb; the bird no longer is safe with the human.

| Posted on 2008-03-31 | by a guest

.: creation and the fall :.

i thought this poem was about creation: you know, the bird representing God creating the universe, and when the seasons change, the people get tempted. then the fall happens, and the lion no longer lays with the lamb; the bird no longer is safe with the human.

| Posted on 2008-03-31 | by a guest

.: :.

I don't believe that you can analyze this poem if you've not listened to an oven bird recently. It's available at x song is more strident and insistent than Frost's vocabulary, at least until you make an effort to pull them together.
"The bird would cease and be as other birds/But that he knows in singing not to sing" probably refers to the tunelessness of the call ("teacher-teacher-teacher") which is repeated endlessly in the late summer in the Northeastern US.

| Posted on 2008-02-16 | by a guest

.: :.

I think the meaning is a much more simple one personally. The inability for man and nature to coincide. The oven bird is a leader, like a signpost for all other nature. it is well known, bright, happy, and brings life and vitality to its surroundings. Note that this poem is a sonnet, 14 lines, and split into 2 sections; the octave and the sestet. There is a tone chnage between sections whereby the ocave is about nature. flowing, a cycle, etc. The sestet is about a decline, where mankind interrupts the beauty and vitality of nature and the oven bird. The fall of man.

because of the dust, nature cannot function. the oven bird can no longer function.

Stereotypically, the last 2 lines of a sonnet rhyme - in this poem ,the first 2 rhyme aswell - can be seen as a cycle.

| Posted on 2007-11-22 | by a guest

.: Oven Bird :.

I thought that the oven bird shows the difference between man and nature. An oven bird is a chicken or some kind of poultry than man has killed, this bird doesn't want to be like that. He wants to carry on with his life and so stops singing when hunters are near. He doesn't want to be heard as he is happy with his life and wants to move on.

| Posted on 2007-10-25 | by a guest

.: :.

.: brief analysis :.
Im doing several of Frosts poems for my english exams. I think the oven bird represents Frost, by mentioning the seasons he is depicting himself as in the autumn of his life 'the early petal-fall is past'(think of the cycle- petals, leaves, fruit). He also mentions the fragility of life 'on sunny days a moment overcast' as in, one gust of wind and all the petals are gone, like in the line above. The general message, I think, is although life is quick, you mustnt stop singing, like the oven bird, because that what makes him unique 'the bird would cease to be as other birds'
I think theres also some post laspsarain stuff in there 'and comes that other fall we name the fall' as in the fall of man, maybe something to do with fruit and trees, but it all links into death.
| Posted on 2007-05-11 | by a guest
-------------------------------------------------------
In this message i would just like to point out that - 'the bird would cease to be as other birds' is incorrectly quoted. the actual line of the poem is 'the bird would cease and be as other birds' meaning the bird would 'cease' - stop singing and be like other birds.



| Posted on 2007-10-24 | by a guest

.: :.

There is a great deal language that is to do with the seasons in “The Oven Bird”. Frost is constantly reminding the reader that throughout the poem seasons are changing and this holds relevance to Frost’s life. Sentences such as “petal-fall is past” and “mid-summer is to spring as one to ten” show how time is very important in this poem and this shows how Frost is thinking about time and how his own life is moving on.

| Posted on 2007-10-18 | by a guest

.: :.

There is a great deal language that is to do with the seasons in “The Oven Bird”. Frost is constantly reminding the reader that throughout the poem seasons are changing and this holds relevance to Frost’s life. Sentences such as “petal-fall is past” and “mid-summer is to spring as one to ten” show how time is very important in this poem and this shows how Frost is thinking about time and how his own life is moving on.

| Posted on 2007-10-18 | by a guest

.: brief analysis :.

Im doing several of Frosts poems for my english exams. I think the oven bird represents Frost, by mentioning the seasons he is depicting himself as in the autumn of his life 'the early petal-fall is past'(think of the cycle- petals, leaves, fruit). He also mentions the fragility of life 'on sunny days a moment overcast' as in, one gust of wind and all the petals are gone, like in the line above. The general message, I think, is although life is quick, you mustnt stop singing, like the oven bird, because that what makes him unique 'the bird would cease to be as other birds'
I think theres also some post laspsarain stuff in there 'and comes that other fall we name the fall' as in the fall of man, maybe something to do with fruit and trees, but it all links into death.



| Posted on 2007-05-11 | by a guest

.: the oven bird :.

the oven brid is a peom about loss. it's about living in a concious mind of knowing time is passing but having to live for present and the future. "dust" suffocating the past as we forget and move on. frost reminding us we are loosing time that we will nver get back and most cover their past with metaphoric "dust". Frost wants past to be acknowleged and celebrated not forgotten about. the birds song makes frost think about how time is passing and how things are changing. the seasons act as a reminder of time passing. suggests frost is in the autum of his life where the bird stopped singing

| Posted on 2007-05-09 | by a guest

.: :.

The oven bird dosen't say that he thinks his life will soon end when the summer turnes to autumn. He is scared of what will happen when he dies and returns to all the birds that have died before him. The poem is basically saying that when you die, you will return to the ground where other great people are buried.The paradox of the Oven bird assertive voice completes the suggestion that only a new "language" can accommodate the dimishing of things, for he neither sings nor speaks.

| Posted on 2005-09-18 | by Approved Guest