As I went down the hill along the wall
There was a gate I had leaned at for the view
And had just turned from when I first saw you
As you came up the hill. We met. But all
We did that day was mingle great and small
Footprints in summer dust as if we drew
The figure of our being less that two
But more than one as yet. Your parasol
Pointed the decimal off with one deep thrust.
And all the time we talked you seemed to see
Something down there to smile at in the dust.
(Oh, it was without prejudice to me!)
Afterward I went past what you had passed
Before we met and you what I had passed.

Analysis, meaning and summary of Robert Frost's poem Meeting and Passing

6 Comments

  1. Saadqain says:

    Meeting and Passing is the meeting of poet to himself. There is no description of love or woman. It may be a poem for a lover but at the same time it can be seen in different context.
    Both, interpretations are possible to one’s contentment.

    As a love poem, symbols can be
    Hill; love
    Gate; heart
    Dust; memories
    Parasol; honour and dignity of the woman
    And their departure is not in love but in the intensity of love. One has reached a climax, other is on his way.

    While, its other explanation would be
    Hill is his higherself or conscience
    Both selves of poet; higher and common are meeting yet, passing of the reason both share different grounds, though according to poet “the figure of our being is less than two”, yet they are two in terms of their standards.

  2. hiui says:

    it is about love and other stuff duh

  3. alyssa says:

    This poem is about two people who talk. There are homilies in this poem that make the reader think that it is deep and philosophical when it is not. If the reader reads this poem without being biased or drawing conclusions from what he/she thinks, then this poem is about two people who talk when they are passing by; when being a critic, one must not put his/her own feelings into the poem, and the homilies in this poem make the reader do that.

  4. Keith Krugerud says:

    The poem is, of course about love, but the pivot and keep point is in the word “para-sol”. Under her umbrell the speaker is also beyond(para) his self/soul(sol). He sees himself outside himself; he is transfigured into some inexpressible effigy – a kind of pure experience in the state of estatic love, which is hinted on in the less than two but more than one.

    The final couplet is the fleeting of the relationship, the passing moment of love, and the concept of passing by a gravesight: death. Love and Death intersect, as they do in their absolutes, and as they do in complete arousal, recalling the para-souls as one soul, call it World-Soul if you like.

  5. nasim says:

    metaphor&simili

  6. STWEWART says:

    this poem was about how he loved a girl or something

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