Gathering Leaves
Spades take up leaves 1
No better than spoons,
And bags full of leaves
Are light as balloons.
I make a great noise 5
Of rustling all day
Like rabbit and deer
Running away.
But the mountains I raise
Elude my embrace, 10
Flowing over my arms
And into my face.
I may load and unload
Again and again
Till I fill the whole shed, 15
And what have I then?
Next to nothing for weight,
And since they grew duller
From contact with earth,
Next to nothing for color. 20
Next to nothing for use.
But crop is a crop,
And who’s to say where
The harvest shall stop?
Robert Frost describes the process of gathering leaves as a part of the
harvest which gives him no gratification. The poem takes us through the time
consuming process of gathering leaves. At the end of the poem, the speaker is
left with nothing but a shed full of dull, weightless leaves. Yet, the speaker
knows that gathering leaves is essential for the harvest.
The speaker starts off the poem by saying that it is a difficult
process to gather leaves: Spades take up leaves no better than spoons, And the
bags full of leaves Are light as balloons” (1-4). The spades used for gathering
leaves are inefficient if they take up leaves as well as spoons. Also, the bags
full of leaves weight nothing, yet it took a long process of using inefficient
tools to get the leaves in the bags. Thus, even though the speaker spent
precious time gathering leaves, he only has a weightless bag to show for it.
In addition to having no product to show the work done, the leaves are
extremely uncooperative. The speaker says, “But the mountains I raise Elude my
embrace, Flowing over my arms And into my face” (8-12). Frost personifies the
leaves here. He says they avoid his embrace and care and instead they fight
back, making the job of gathering leaves even harder. Frost uses interesting
diction here when he refers to the leaves as “mountains” when he previously
described the leaves as weightless. Although the leaves are weightless in
measured weight, they feel heavy when they are gathered because they do not
stay in the bag.
The stanza relates to the emotion that King Lear shares with his
daughters Goneril and Regan. Lear raises his daughters with care and gives them
everything they ask for, yet they show absolutely no gratitude. Instead, they
intend to take away the little power he has left. This relates to the leave
because the speaker does so much work harvesting the leaves, but they fight
back and are unyielding.
Furthermore to the leaves being uncooperative, the end of this process
does not leave the speaker with some sense of accomplishment or happiness. He
is left with “nothing for weight” and “nothing for color”. Gathering the leaves
gives him nothing. This related to the emotion in King Lear. Lear gives his heart
and soul to his daughters and they return this kindness to him with greed. Lear
gets no gratification or help.
The last stanza exemplifies the overall theme well. The speaker
describes the leaves as “Next to nothing for use. But a crop is a crop, And who’s
to say where The harvest shall stop?” (21-24). The leaves are useless once they
are brought into the shed. Yet, the speaker must continue this necessary
process. He says a “crop is a crop” so it must be gathered. There is no
escaping the process of gathering leaves. The speaker wishes the harvest and
task of gathering leaves would stop, but he knows that is a mere dream. This
relates to the emotion in King Lear of growing older. Lear wishes his aging
would stop, but it is inevitable and part of the circle of life. Gathering
leaves is an inevitable and ungratifying , but there is no escaping it.
Quick and easily understandable
ReplyDeleteagreed
DeleteThanks
ReplyDeleteLovable summary of a loveable poem. Thank you for Summary. Thank you Frost for poem.
ReplyDeleteIdiots the one who has written this is an absolute idiot
ReplyDeleteChup you don't Know the poem only😂
Deleteno u r wrong idiot is the person who wrote this comment......the written is absolutly correct but the absolute idiot is one who wrote this comment.
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ReplyDeleteWtf
DeleteThis is an amazing misunderstanding
ReplyDeletewell done
ReplyDeleteThank you very much you made me understand sir proud of you 🙏
ReplyDeleteThanks for ur help. It's quick and easily understandable.
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