The Meaning of A Boundless Moment by Robert Frost

A Boundless Moment by Robert Frost

He halted in the wind, and — what was that
Far in the maples, pale, but not a ghost?
He stood there bringing March against his thought, And yet too ready to believe the most.

"Oh, that's the Paradise-in-bloom," I said;
And truly it was fair enough for flowers
had we but in us to assume in march
Such white luxuriance of May for ours.

We stood a moment so in a strange world,
Myself as one his own pretense deceives;
And then I said the truth (and we moved on).
A young beech clinging to its last year's leaves.

The poem is one of seasons changing and the cycle of life. Each May the bloom comes out and brings life to the death of winter. The poem is about a single moment when the characters see that life has changed. The layers of meaning can be deep but on the surface it appears Robert Frost is discussing nature and its cyclical momentum.  Everything in nature moves through patterns.

The poem indicates that he is walking with someone. The pastoral beauty of nature has caught their eye and they pause for just a moment. They gaze into nature and its ever changing existence-a paradise of bloom. The author discusses a piece of truth to his companion and both move on. He feels as though he is in a strange world where pretenses fail our human understanding of our place within it all.

In the last sentence we see a comment about a young beech clinging to its last year’s leaves. It is possible to see this as how we always cling to what was before and fail to embrace the new. No matter how much we cling to the past change sweeps up us all. We can’t live in the past. The tree with a single leaf could be a metaphor for how we try and maintain our youth and past, but life will make it all fall away. Humans and nature are part of the very same existence.

Sonnet Title: The Pounce of the Hawk

Sonnet Title: The Pounce of the Hawk

On top of his perch, he takes no rest: (a)

looking among the grass and fields to find his prey. (b)

With razor vision, he can see the mountain, field and bay. (b)

Ever so silently without moving his chest. (a)

At any moment, he will pounce from his nest. (a)

The mice flee for they would not be wise to stay, (b)

They run through the grass hoping it will not come their way. (b)

The hawk of the night knows best. (a)

Speak not of the horrors of the wild, (c)

This bird is doing what it has always done. (d)

In the cycle of nature, it is more innocent than a child, (c)

It takes no pleasure nor deems it fun, (d)

Therefore, it need not be hated or reviled. (c)

It will become extinct if it is outdone. (d)

The Hawk

The Italian sonnet uses the iambic pentameter, tetrameter or the hexameter. The most common form is the iambic pentameter. Generally, the Italian sonnet has two sections that include the octave (abbaabba) and the sestet (cdcdcd). The two sections work together to define a problem and then a conclusion to that problem.

Originally founded by Sicilian poet Giacomo da Lentini the sonnet means a little song. The octave is a proposition followed by the sestet that gives the conclusion. In this poem, the octave is the hawk that wisely waits to find prey. He chases and scares the mice. The second part is the sestet that comes to the conclusion that the hawk’s behavior is an embedded part of nature. The hawk is not cruel but only doing what nature has told it to do in seeking its own survival.