Here further up the mountain slope
Than there was every any hope,
My father built, enclosed a spring,
Strung chains of wall round everything,
Subdued the growth of earth to grass,
And brought our various lives to pass.
A dozen girls and boys we were.
The mountain seemed to like the stir,
And made of us a little while–
With always something in her smile.
Today she wouldn’t know our name.
(No girl’s, of course, has stayed the same.)
The mountain pushed us off her knees.
And now her lap is full of trees.

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

6 Comments

  1. Ann says:

    This poem was written about the Von Trapp family when they moved to Stowe VT. There were 10 children and Maria and Georg Von Trapp. They all loved the land and forest where they were living and it is a tribute to their life up on the mountain.

    • Bosco says:

      Apologies to Ann. This poem was written in 1928, and the Von Trapp Family did not flee Austria until 1938, and they did not settle in Stowe VT. until later in the 1940’s, so it was not written about their life in Vermont. However, there is an old foundation on their land in Stowe, Vermont which was dated back to a previous tenant/property owner from the 1700s, and this poem is now printed on a marker at the depression where this house once stood.

  2. Rich says:

    Frost was absolutely Christian. His wife was atheist, but he did not share her atheistic views. The trans substantiation informed his philosophy of natural dualism. Read Peter Stanlis for more.

  3. Terry says:

    Well, Amanda, as Frost, himself, once said, “Poetry permits one possible way to say one thing and mean another.” He really meant to impart profound messages about life and human nature in his poems. Fortunately, he was gifted with a genius for diction and tone that evokes emotion and thought in us as we read them, making his thoughts all the more palatable, evocative, and communicative for us. You are free, of course, to only skim the surface when you read poetry, but you will miss out on a great deal of pleasure and knowledge that is free for the taking. You just have to be willing to meet the poet half way, and the more you try to do it, the easier and more rewarding it will become.

  4. Ami says:

    tO Me ThIs PoEm mEaNs So mAnY DiFfErEnT ThInGs BuT i AlWaYs TaKe It FrOm tHe ChrIsTiAN SiDe. oH aNd FyI fOr A LoT of pRoJeCtS sTuDeNtS hAvE to gEt tO tHe ReAl mEaNiNg I kNoW tHaTs WhAt i HaD To Do fOr mY lAsT PrOjEcT !! x0x

  5. amanda says:

    i really hate how people just rip apart poems to see if there is a “real” meaning. why cant people just read poems and just enjoy them for what it says and not for what they think it says?

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