Assignment #1 Sound Poetry

This poem has a precise rhythmic pattern. The overall effect of this pattern creates a slow and relaxing mood. The sound devices used in the poem create an atmosphere of quiet and peace but also of sound and life. In the third stanza the writer uses onomatopoeia to convey the sounds of the creatures that have taken over this forgotten place. "The whippoorwill is coming to shout And hush and cluck and flutter about:". Shout, hush and cluck all create a more light hearted feeling that contrasts with the more gloomy feeling of the previous stanza. Overall the poem contains many "s" sounds conveying a peaceful and quiet mood. This is especially true in fifth stanza where it says "It is under the small, dim, summer star." Here there is alliteration of the quiet and soothing s sound.The quiet results from the lack of human life. There are no more memories to be created in this setting. The writer is clearly upset over the desertion of this place that created many memories. But the sounds of a new kind of life have taken over. It is dead in the sense of humans but has come alive with the sounds of a different kind of creature.

A good overall description, though I think that the main idea is reminiscence rather than celebrating the emergence of new life. The last two stanzas,

"It is under the small, dim, summer star.
I know not who these mute folk are
Who share the unlit place with me--
Those stones out under the low-limbed tree
Doubtless bear names that the mosses mar.

They are tireless folk, but slow and sad,
Though two, close-keeping, are lass and lad,--
With none among them that ever sings,
And yet, in view of how many things,
As sweet companions as might be had."

are describing an old graveyard and conveying the ancient sense that contains. The last stanza is a description of how a memory lives in such an old place where no new memories are being created, and it's only company is the graves of it's long-gone creators.

This poem follows an AABBA rhyme pattern. It contains many sounds devices that draw the reader in and the rhyme keeps it flowing. However the last line not rhyming with the previous to makes it stand out. Each last line in the stanza is thus highlighted because it doesn't rhyme with the others. It seems the two middle stanzas are about loneliness, almost as if Frost is in a depression. Maybe something tramatic had just happened in his life and he is writing this as a way for himself to heal. He uses imagery like "aching heart" "far apart" and "forgotten" to emphasize his sad feelings.
"I dwell with a strangely aching heart
In that vanished abode there far apart "

The words heart and apart rhyme and the sound of them together portrays the image of a breaking heart. Frost used this to convey his sadness.

I liked how you pointed out that the last line of each stanza not rhyming makes it stand out. I also like the examples that you gave, and your elaboration felt very thorough.
Good job!

when you say the line "It is under the small, dim, summer star," I also think the 'm' sound can fit in with a soothing mood found in "dim" and "summer."

I really enjoyed your response and I also agree with a lot of the points you made. When you said, "-almost as if Frost is in a depression." it helped me to further imagine Frost's sadness in the poem. I also feel that a lot of the word choice he used indirectly emphasizes his sadness.

@run.swim.live you made a really good point when you said "Overall the poem contains many "s" sounds conveying a peaceful and quiet mood. This is especially true in fifth stanza where it says "It is under the small, dim, summer star." " I didnt even realize that until you pointed it out(: