Mowing

Introduction

Robert Frost’s “Mowing” depicts a quiet moment working in the field when the speaker is cutting the hay. He imagines his “long scythe” is “whispering to the ground” and, unable to hear what it is saying, concludes it is focused on the “truth” and “fact” of its “labor” rather than the insignificant and useless dreams of “idle hours” or “easy gold”.

Working his 30-acre plot in New Hampshire with fields, woodland and an orchard, the poet understood the unforgiving intensity of running a farm. However, Frost was known locally for his “lack of energy”. He commented that he was “a failure in their eyes from the start” and preferred “to sit up all hours of the night planning some inarticulate crime”.

I might say the core of all my writing was probably the five free years I had on the farm down the road a mile or two from Derry Village toward Lawrence. The only thing we had was plenty of time and seclusion.

Robert Frost

Therefore, Frost’s “Mowing” could be read as a criticism of his own reluctance to work the land and ignoring his obligations, but he recognised the impact that time had on his poetry.

Mowing

There was never a sound beside the wood but one,
And that was my long scythe whispering to the ground.
What was it it whispered? I knew not well myself;
Perhaps it was something about the heat of the sun,
Something, perhaps, about the lack of sound –
And that was why it whispered and did not speak.
It was no dream of the gift of idle hours,
Or easy gold at the hand of fay or elf:
Anything more than the truth would have seemed too weak
To the earnest love that laid the swale in rows,
Not without feeble-pointed spikes of flowers
(Pale orchises), and scared a bright green snake.
The fact is the sweetest dream that labor knows.
My long scythe whispered and left the hay to make.

Mowing Grass

The rhythm of cutting grass is quite obvious – gripping the snath with two hands to swing and draw the slender blade along the ground, forwards and backwards, from one side to the other. Frost tries to evoke this swaying motion in “Mowing”, especially in the first six lines, when the words and swishing sounds seem to double back on themselves.

The onomatopoeic verb whisper, which mimics the soft and low sound of the scythe moving through the grass, is probably the most important repetition. The double “it” in the third line, the reversing of “perhaps” and “something” in the fourth and fifth lines, and the repetition of “about” and “sound” all reinforce the circular movement. Even the verb “was” alternates between the second or third syllable of the first four lines and follows a different pronoun each time.

Notice how the poem’s rhyme scheme begins with abc abd so the fourth and fifth lines echo the first two. There is also the subtle internal rhyming of “sound” and “ground”, and “there” and “never”. Another example of repetition can be heard in the assonance in “beside” and “scythe”, and “speak” and “heat”.

These lines are also full of soft sibilant, nasal and long vowel sounds which help create the quiet and hypnotic motion of the scythe. Frost’s “Mowing” is a wonderfully lyrical poem and the tone is certainly mesmerising.

The Speaker

The poem is set in a field but it begins with a reference to “the wood”. Frost often uses this image to signify a greater boundary into a life-changing unknown. Perhaps the speaker is distracted by those possibilities while he is mowing and feels like he belongs elsewhere.

It is interesting to note that the “long scythe” is “whispering to the ground” rather than trying to communicate with the mower. The speaker admits in the third line that he does not know what it saying: “What was it it whispered? I knew not well myself”. Again, this distances him from the farm work. Despite the beautiful and simple rhythm of mowing, he yearns for more than this single “sound”.

The Scythe

With its “long” handle and sharp, curved blade, a scythe is designed to cut grass or other crops, but the personification of the tool in “Mowing” enables the poet to explore its identity.

The speaker speculates about what the scythe is “whispering”, suggesting it might be commenting on “the heat of the sun” or “the lack of sound”. He does not believe the scythe was dreaming about “the gift of idle hours” or, ridiculously, the hope of “easy gold” from a “fay or elf”.

He imagines the scythe does not want to waste time doing nothing because it has an “earnest love” for work and wants to lay out the “swale in rows”. A swale is a stretch of damp land which often produces smellier crops because of its poor drainage. This moisture would explain the “feeble-pointed” flowers. Frost uses “swale” rather than field to suggest the scythe has such a sincere and intense “love” for cutting grass it does not care about its quality.

The speaker concludes the scythe needs to fulfil its purpose and would only be “whispering” about “the fact” because it is “the sweetest dream that labor knows”. Once the scythe completes its work and has “left the hay to make”; the onus will be on the speaker to gather the “rows” and then turn and dry the cuttings so they don’t spoil. He will have to fulfil his obligations without the help from a “fay or elf”. There is no “easy gold” in life.

Symbolism

It seems the scythe refuses to lapse into fantasy and prefers to focus on the “truth”. This contrasts with the speaker’s struggle to find meaning in the “labor” and his playful depiction of the “whispering” scythe. It is easy to become distracted from work and daydream about other things so the reader will sympathise with his situation.

This collision of “dream” and “truth” runs throughout the poem. The scythe is just a scythe but Frost gives it sentience. When it cut along the swale, it “scared a bright green snake”. The poet might have chosen this signifier because it has connotations of both good and evil. For example, the way snakes shed their skin is a symbol of rebirth and fertility, but it is also associated with the devil and temptation in Christian belief. This could reveal Frost’s divided mind towards farm “labor”. Critics certainly try to decode the image’s significance.

However, Frost is actually referring to the smooth green snake which is common in the long grasses of New England. In this way, the poet is able to play with the “truth” and our desire to create symbols to help us define and understand our world.

Another interesting example are the “feeble-pointed spikes of flowers” which Frost informs the reader are “pale orchises”. Orchids are colourful and fragrant flowering plants which seem to thrive in this “swale”. However, the use of parenthesis demands the reader’s attention and raises questions about why the poet was determined to identify the species. An orchid has spiky flowers but they get their name from the shape of their roots. In Latin, órchis means testicles. Having studied classical languages, Frost was aware of the plant’s etymology and the schoolboy humour of the image pokes fun at his attempt to discover a greater “truth” while he works the land.

Manual labour has its own reward but Robert Frost has an “earnest love” to write poetry.

Structure

The cuttings are “laid” out in efficient “rows” so the sonnet form seems like a good choice for the subject matter. The octet discusses the “sound” of the “scythe” and what it might be “whispering”. There is lots of uncertainty in these lines, epitomised by the interrogative “what was it it whispered”. The volta occurs in the ninth line when the sestet immediately recognises the importance of the “truth” and “fact” rather than the previous “weak” conjecture.

The final two lines deliver a satisfying and reassuring conclusion when scythe seems to whisper that arduous work has its own pleasure and there is no need to find a grander meaning.

The rhyme scheme is Frost’s own invention: abc abd ecd feg fg. By moving away from the old Shakespearean and Petrarchan form, Frost is attempting to create his own “sound” and find his voice as a poet. In a letter, he commented that “the sonnet is the strictest form I have behaved in, and that mainly by pretending it wasn’t a sonnet”.

Comprehension Questions

1. Suggest why Frost begins the poem with an inverted sentence structure, the existential pronoun ‘there’ and the negative ‘never’.
2. How does the poet personify the ‘scythe’ in the second line? Explain the effect of this anthropomorphosis in the poem.
3. Explain the effect of using a rhetorical question in line three.
4. What does the speaker imagine the ‘scythe’ is ‘whispering’ in lines four and five?
5. Suggest why the speaker is uncertain about the meaning of the whispers.
6. Explain the aural and rhythmic effect Frost is hoping to achieve by repeating the word whispered. You could consider the repetition of ‘it’ in the third line.
7. What impression of the scythe’s attitude towards work in line seven?
8. What do you think is the tone of line eight?
9. What do you think is meant by the abstract noun ‘truth’ in the ninth line?
10. Following on from the previous question, what do you think is the scythe’s imagined attitude towards its real work and the fantastical?
11. Lines eleven and twelve contain references to ‘flowers’, specifically ‘orchises’ and a ‘snake’. What might these images symbolise?
12. What conclusions does the speaker make in the final two lines about the scythe and ‘mowing’ grass?
13. Suggest why Frost decided to use the sonnet form for this particular poem.