The Onset - A poem by Robert Frost

Robert Frost - The Onset

Always the same, when on a fated night
At last the gathered snow lets down as white
As may be in dark woods, and with a song
It shall not make again all winter long
Of hissing on the yet uncovered ground,
I almost stumble looking up and round,
As one who overtaken by the end
Gives up his errand, and lets death descend
Upon him where he is, with nothing done
To evil, no important triumph won,
More than if life had never been begun.

Yet all the precedent is on my side:
I know that winter death has never tried
The earth but it has failed: the snow may heap
In long storms an undrifted four feet deep
As measured again maple, birch, and oak,
It cannot check the peeper's silver croak;
And I shall see the snow all go down hill
In water of a slender April rill
That flashes tail through last year's withered brake
And dead weeds, like a disappearing snake.
Nothing will be left white but here a birch,
And there a clump of houses with a church.

Added: on October 16th, 2005 at 6:31 PM | Viewed: 5688 times | Comments and analysis of The Onset by Robert Frost Comments (4)

The Onset - Comments and Information
Poet: Robert Frost (Robert Frost Art) Poem: 27. The Onset Volume: New Hampshire Year: Published/Written in 1923 Poem of the Day: Dec 22 2001 Comment 4 of 4, added on June 2nd, 2009 at 10:20 PM. "This is necessary. Life feeds on life feeds on life." Things are driven to exist. The will to live will always prevail. Death cannot end the cycles of the earth. Julia from Canada Comment 3 of 4, added on November 23rd, 2008 at 7:58 AM. The main idea is - after winter always comes spring. No one can stop it. The snow will melt. The cold will pass.But there is one more interesting thing here - the WHITE colour. In Christianity as in many other religions and just traditionally people accept white colour as the colour of light, life, in contrast to the black, that aften symbolizes death. But snow is white! And snow will disappear, does it mean that light/life will also disappear? To make the point clear Frost says in the very end "Nothing will be left white but birch and thete a clump of houses with a church". Birch has white trunk, houses also often are painted in white... The church itself is a symbol of light... here is the clue. the cold will pass, snow disappear, but light/life will remain! Larissa from Pakistan Comment 2 of 4, added on October 16th, 2005 at 6:31 PM. i have worked outside almost everyday for 35 years.each year when the first snow falls and ''hisses on the yet uncovered ground''we stop for a moment and listen and reflect upon the coming winter. to have frost give it context hasmeant much to me.....a poet can only use an opening line once....growing up as i did in new england, the words''always the same''were a common saying usually spoken with a certain urgency,a sense of foreboding tinged with resignation. it interests me greatly that frost burned up those words to start this poem, my favorite of all his works. george kiberd from United States More Comments >> Are you looking for more information on this poem? Perhaps you are trying to analyze it? The poem, The Onset, has received 4 comments. Click here to read them, and perhaps post a comment of your own. Of course you can also always discuss poems by Robert Frost with others on the American Poems poetry forum!

Poem Info
Poet: Robert Frost Poem: 27. The Onset Volume: New Hampshire Year: Published/Written in 1923 Last read: Dec 22 2009, 8:13PM Poem of the Day: Dec 22 2001 Viewed 5688 times. Added on October 16th, 2005 at 6:31 PM.

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