The Oven Bird (Robert Frost)

Linda Arellano

Srygley, Cheryl

AP Literature

The Oven Bird (Robert Frost)

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.	5
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.	10
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.

1. First Impression: Robert Frost’s The Oven Bird talks about the song that we’ve all become familiar with one way or another. In this poem he talks about the change of seasons and how this bird can become extinct due to the intrusions into their habitats. He expresses itself through his joyful chants yet never uses words, and he brings life back to the solid tree trunks. The author also states a sort of rhetorical question at the very end of the poem.

2. Paraphrase:

a. The is a song we’ve all heard

b. Loud, during the summer and in the middle of the woods bird,

c. He makes the solid tree trunks sound again

d. He says that leaves are old and that for flowers

e. The middle of summer is to spring as one is to ten

f. He says the early petal fall is the past

g. When pear and cherry bloom went down in the showers

h. On a sunny days a moment overcast

i. And comes that other fall we call fall.

j. He says the highway dust is all over.

k. The birds would all cease

l. But he knows in singing not to sing

m. The question he states in everything but words

n. Is what to make of this diminished thing?

3. Syntax and Word Choice: The Oven Bird is a single stanza of 14 lines with a rhyme scheme of aabcbdcdeefgfg. Certain words gave the poem gave emphasis on the bird and the song he sings as well as a particular emphasis on seasons of the year (i.e. mid-summer, spring and fall). The author also uses alliteration. There is also the use of figurative language; “mid-summer is to spring as one to ten”.

4. Imagery: Robert Frost’s use of imagery acts as an important element in the structure of the poem. The author places special emphasis on the image of a bird and the seasonal changes. Not only is this but there also an image of something expressed without it being really expressed. The image of ‘a singer that everyone has heard’ appeals to the auditory and visual senses. There are several elements throughout the text which enhance and appeal to the senses as a whole, but the visual being the most prominent.

5. Figurative Language: The Oven Bird is one of Frost’s shortest poems to ever be published. The amount of figurative language is limited. In line 5 of the poem we can find a clear example of Frost’s usage of this literary element: “He says that leaves are old and that for flowers / Mid-summer is to spring as one is to ten”. In this quote he is expressing what he believes the bird is expressing. He discusses the complementary action of one season with the other as that of one being part of the whole ten; one can’t be without the other.

6. Tone: The author’s tone is a bit melancholic but moreover it is informative and tailored to create some sort of environmental awareness. The poem talks about the seasonal changes as well as the impact of the highway dust as it covers it all. The poem ends with a rhetorical question which sparks some interest in the reader about the fate of these birds when everything becomes diminished.

7. Theme: The reader quickly becomes part of the bird’s adventures through Robert Frost’s The Oven Bird. In this poem Frost acts as an interpreter for the bird’s unspoken but surely expressed emotions. Frost conveys a theme of a journey. In this journey the bird expresses the changes of the season as well as those of the effects of the highway dust on the overall environment. There is also a theme of grief and anticipation of what might come next. The poem begins at mid-summer which is usually a time were most people are enjoying and having a good time.

8. Conclusion: In addition to the first impression, I believe that even though the poem was only a single stanza, Frost clearly expresses what the bird feels and sees. The takes on the character as if he was the bird himself; (He says that leaves…. He says the early petal-fall… etc.) The poem is also very reflective of Frost’s love for nature and his innate naturalistic style.