I went to turn the grass once after one
Who mowed it in the dew before the sun.
The dew was gone that made his blade so keen
Before I came to view the leveled scene.
I looked for him behind an isle of trees;
I listened for his whetstone on the breeze.
But he had gone his way, the grass all mown,
And I must be, as he had been — alone,
‘As all must be,’ I said within my heart,
‘Whether they work together or apart.’
But as I said it, swift there passed me by
On noiseless wing a bewildered butterfly,
Seeking with memories grown dim o’er night
Some resting flower of yesterday’s delight.
And once I marked his flight go round and round,
As where some flower lay withering on the ground.
And then he flew as far as eye could see,
And then on tremulous wing came back to me.
I thought of questions that have no reply,
And would have turned to toss the grass to dry;
But he turned first, and led my eye to look
At a tall tuft of flowers beside a brook,
A leaping tongue of bloom the scythe had spared
Beside a reedy brook the scythe had bared.
The mower in the dew had loved them thus,
By leaving them to flourish, not for us,
Nor yet to draw one thought of ours to him.
But from sheer morning gladness at the brim.
The butterfly and I had lit upon,
Nevertheless, a message from the dawn,
That made me hear the wakening birds around,
And hear his long scythe whispering to the ground,
And feel a spirit kindred to my own;
So that henceforth I worked no more alone;
But glad with him, I worked as with his aid,
And weary, sought at noon with him the shade;
And dreaming, as it were, held brotherly speech
With one whose thought I had not hoped to reach.
‘Men work together,’ I told him from the heart,
‘Whether they work together or apart.’

Analysis, meaning and summary of Robert Frost's poem The Tuft of Flowers

9 Comments

  1. Marwa says:

    This poem The tuft of Flowers is about an emotion experienced universally.The poet have not only questions the feeling of being alone but also provides answer to this dilemma.The speaker is able to preach the peace and happiness present in acceptance of solitude.

  2. jed lankitis says:

    dis poem rocks my socks and it means that people who have no one always find someone

  3. tenzin choeney says:

    this poem is really touching and i really like it. i think it means like some people may feel alone in life like there’s nobody there for you but in the end, they may feel that there is atleast one person who is there for you…

  4. Yusnia Sakti says:

    In my opinion, the poem make us think, “Do we do things alone? Is there no relationship with others?”

    The narrator in this poem is like to tell a story about butterfly,flower(both represent nature), the first man with mower and the second man who think about the question (represent culture).
    In the end, the second man realize that we are not doing/working alone but we re intertwined to each other although apart (that is the question’s answer). The second man got that answer after saw the butterfly that find a flower (which is left by the first man with mower for the sake of beauty).

    In short, this is a beautiful poem.

  5. Yaddle's Padawan says:

    I like Frost poems. They tell stories unwritten yet recorded on the very fabric of nature. You pause and wonder who has been here? Who has yet to come? Will they know I was here? As I stop and appreciate the moment, I acknowledge that I am a part of this and my footprints remain – visible only to those versed in the sublime.

  6. Tammy says:

    in ma opinion, dis poem is about a bewildered butterfly that brings two men to work together as one. the only reason y i got to dis site is for ma hmwrk. anywayz…i had to read dis poem quite a few times to get it. its kinda hard to unnderstand n it still duzn’t rilly make sense to me…but ya… this poem is quite intersting [thoe there are a lotta hard vocabs. =p

  7. Cope says:

    Like the sound of Frost poetry? Listen to The Tuft of Flowers and other poems at RobertFrostOutLoud.com

  8. Job says:

    To me this poem is about knowing that you are not alone. this tuft of flowers brings these two men together even though they have never met.

  9. Dawn Varley says:

    I think this poem is about realising that there’s more to life than we think but we have to search for it and some things we can only gain by working together although you may seem very far apart.

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