Self Made Notes on Robert Frost Gathering Leaves

Gathering Leaves
Self-made notes
Stanza 1 * Autumn * Collecting memories which are disorganized throughout the years * Reflecting himself
Stanza 2 * -------------------------------------------------
A bleak autumn’s day and all nature begins to die/grow duller
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Stanza 3 * -------------------------------------------------
The speaker gathers a lot of leaves and piles them up as a mountain, but it is hard to embrace/catch them.
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Stanza 6 * -------------------------------------------------
Men and nature, cyclical nature, is linked.
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* ‘’Spades take up leaves No better than spoons’’ * There’s no big difference in using the spoon/spade to take up the leaves.

* ‘’Are light as balloons’’ * Simile (child-like and playful)

* ‘’Of rustling all day
Like rabbit and deer’’ * 1. ‘Rustling’ – Sound Imagery * 2. ‘All day’ – i. Been collecting leaves all day ii.The speaker is repeatedly doing the same mundane task
a) Hints a decaying fates
b) Monotony of life (routine, mundane) * 3. ‘Like’ - The rustling sound of the leaves are like the sound of animals made while running on dry leaves. (Simile) * 4. ‘Rabbit and deer’ – It emphasizes the leaves are falling rapidly. And the speaker has to nonstop collect them. * ** The poet allows readers listen to the sound of fallen leaves.**

* ‘’Flowing over my arms
And into my face.’’ * Leaves are falling

* ‘’I may load and unload
Again and again
Till I fill the whole shed,
And what have I then?’’ * 1. ‘I may load and unload’ – The speaker would continue to do it – shows tedious task of gathering leaves in a frustrated manner. * 2. ‘I may load and unload Again and again Till I fill the whole shed,’ – Life is stale. – The speaker does not get anything. * 3. ‘And what have I then?’ = ‘What do I have eventually doing all that?’’ – Pointless chores while the speaker does not get anything.

* ‘’Next to nothing for weight,
And since they grew duller
From contact with earth,
Next to nothing for color.’’ * 1. ‘grew duller’ – Visual Imagery * 2. ’From contact with earth’ – Tactile Imagery * 3. ‘Next to nothing for color.’ – Lost its color = brown + yellow

* ‘Next to nothing for use.
But a crop is a crop,
And who’s to say where
The harvest shall stop?’’ * 1. ‘But a crop is a crop,
And who’s to say where
The harvest shall stop?’ – Change of Tone – The intrinsic value in doing such task is real and the speaker can perhaps benefits from it as it allows him to reflect his life experiences through observing the cyclical nature. * 2. ‘But a crop is a crop’ – It still has it values.
– We can have a look of the cycle of life through the process of gathering leaves
– Life is an experience and every effort is an experience though there may not be recognition. * 3. ‘The harvest shall stop?’ – Literally: ‘Who can tell when ‘’I’’ can finish gathering leaves?’ ~ ‘Who can tell when the autumn would go?’ – Suggest the passing of time/seasonal change * Ambiguous, uncertain
‘’?’’ makes the conclusion/ending ambiguous.
He refuses to reveal his own view about whether persistence in this task should continue. * ‘Next to nothing for weight’, ‘Next to nothing for color’, ‘Next to nothing for use’. * The repetition of ‘next to nothing’ gives a sense of hopelessness because the chores seems that no reward for his labor.
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Atmosphere: * Rather dull and forlorn because the sense of loneliness is noticed. * Quiet because the poem is filled with delicacies of peaceful purity and tranquility.

Setting: * Autumn – All nature is beginning to decline. – Hinting a decaying state e.g. ‘grew duller from contact with earth.’ – A season of decline.

Rhyme: * Line 2 and 4 – This can show that the taste is mundane, and the speaker has to gather the leaves again and again (ceaseless work).

Tone (of the speaker): * Monotonous

Comparison: * ‘Spoon and spade’ – His hard work seems to be invain.

Techniques: * Simile * Repetition * Imagery (Sound, Tactile, Visual)