The Oven Bird, By: Robert Frost

Original
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 sing 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.
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.

First Impression
- Robert Frost’s The Oven Bird is a straightforward poem. In this poem, Frost talks about a bird as he sings throughout the seasons. It seems that the bird is experiencing the change in the wild life as the seasons change. Throughout the poem, Frost usesjoyful words and has a pleasurable feel. However, I cannot pin point the major point of The Oven Bird.

Paraphrased
There is a well known singer,
Who is loud, a summer bird,
Who makes the trees feel alive again.
The bird says the leaves are old and that the flowers need the sun of summer.
He says that the early petals say that fall is over
When the pears and cherry blooms fall from the heavy rain.
And on those sunny days a moment cast;
And comes that other drop we call fall.
The bird says that the dust is over all.
The bird would sing just like the other birds,
But he knows that singing is not singing.
The question that he poses in words
Is what to make of a tragedy.

Syntax and Word Choice
- The Oven Bird is a single stanza that follows the rhyme scheme of AABCBDCDEEFGHG. Most of the lines are viewed from a bird’s P.O.V. Furthermore, most of the lines are related to nature. Frost also includes assonance and two couplets, yet he does not add them at the end.
Imagery
- Robert Frost cleverly uses different words when referring to the seasons. The center image in the poem is the tree. In the poem, the tree symbolizes life, in that, life is essentially short. Also, as the poem progresses, the tree goes into the cycle of life and death.
Figurative Language
- One example of figurative language is the birds understanding the changes in the season. Another example is when the bird is singing about its surroundings; this could be classified as personification.
Tone
- The tone can best be described as calm, in respects to the environment. However at the end of the poem, Frost states that “He says the highway dust is over all… / the question that he frames in all but words / is what to make of a diminished thing.” Those last two lines keep the readers in suspense.
Theme
- The overall theme is that life is short and to not waste your life. Symbolically, the seasons emphasize the idea of life and death where, spring is the beginning of life, summer is the middle of life, fall is the preparation for death, and winter is the moment of death.

Conclusion
- Now that I fully understand the overall theme of The Oven Bird, I feel that I can understand the poem better. In addition, SWIFTT has enable me to see that the tone shifts from happy and cheery to solemn and suspenseful.