A late walk

A Late Walk
By Robert Frost


When I go up through the mowing field,
The headless aftermath,
Smooth-laid like thatch with the heavy dew,
Half closes the garden path.

And when I come to the garden ground,
The whir of sober birds
Up from the tangle of withered weeds
Is sadder than any words

A tree beside the wall stands bare,
But a leaf that lingered brown,
Disturbed, I doubt not, by my thought,
Comes softly rattling down.

I end not far from my going forth
By picking the faded blue
Of the last remaining aster flower
To carry again to you.

The poem was structured upon a character that was walking to a destination and along the way described how the character was feeling. The words used by Robert Frost in this poem represent such a gloomy and damp situation. This poem represents so much loss by the character that was walking and feeling sad and helpless. Usually a hayfield with upright stocks and heads of fruit swaying in the wind has so much life in it. Instead, by using the word “in the headless aftermath”, not only is it void of life, but it is blocking other joys of life by using the words “half closes the garden path”. The hayfield which normally used to describe life is now being described as a field that is representation of death or emptiness. The second verse of the poem reflects on the situation of the garden where Robert Frost used the “Sober birds” which are indeed in a sad mood. They have lost the joy and innocence they once had. Robert Frost wants to show that how sad the situation was. The birds are only thinking of survival and the possibly of only having yet one more brief year to live themselves showed that the narrator was in a really grey environment. In the third verse of the poem, the near naked tree loses its single last element that may hide its shame through the winter but, it becomes completely exposed, just in time for the harshest time a full season's cycle has to offer. In all of humanity, through all the loss and sadness, one can find joy. Even if it's the last remaining aster flower, no doubt beginning itself to lose the plump, erect, colorful life it once held in its prime. That flower can be taken and used to create joy in a heart. The character however did not pick it to bring joy to his own heart, but to bless another.
The poem reflects on how the character was in the sad and damp environment found “the last remaining aster flower” to bring the only color in the environment to someone else. This can be seen in word of “To carry again to you”. Robert Frost’s style of writing has always been influenced on environment. So much so, he chose to write using the environment to represents the feelings of the character. In this particular poem, the character who was feeling sad and damp (represent by the damp environment he was going through) finally found the last aster flower (which was faded blue) with the hope of bringing the flower to someone. The lines represent that the characters, brings hope even when the situation was sad and grey. The faded blue last aster flower was the metaphor for hope brought by the character in the poem.(This is my critique on the poem: A Late Walk by Robert Frost)