The Hidden Blossom of Hope
Walking up through a desolate mowing field, a narrator explores an anguishing scene. They find dying plants and a wrecked garden, but seemingly nothing of colour or life. In his “A Late Walk,” Robert Frost guides this character to find a single faded aster flower after a long hopeless journey to demonstrate how even the smallest bit of hope can be found in hopeless situations. Frost alters a common setting such as a field to install sorrowful emotions, then reveals a blue aster flower amid the dull field. By presenting a faded flower standing amongst withering plants, Frost shows how hope can withstand tough conditions. Robert Frost uses symbolism, metaphors, and imagery to illustrate a heart lightening discovery of love within a despairing setting.
By deploying symbolism, Frost uses the aster flower as an emblem of love to signify the presence of hope that can be found within desperate situations. With his poem, Robert’s audience is presented with a disheartening story and is left searching for a sign of warmth. Frost illustrated a lifeless scenery when he chose to indicate “sober birds” (Frost 6) and “withered weeds” (Frost 7) in a view “sadder than any words” (Frost 8). The poet then expanded the solemn sight he pictured, and introduced “the last remaining aster flower” (Frost 15). Robert’s choice to raise attention to an aster flower influences a strong, hopeful and warm feeling after a dull, gloomy, and sorrowful field. He makes a comparison to the withered weeds when he shows a single flower amongst a dying field thriving better than weeds; plants notorious for their stubborn livability. By making this comparison, Frost depicts the long-lasting presence of love and its ability to overcome harsh conditions. Just as an aster flower symbolizes love, wisdom, and faith, Robert uses this representation to add colour to a muddy plain and portray love standing amongst an emotionless scene. Using the aster flower, the poet expands the field of vision that he once illustrated as a depressing picture, to an inspiring portrait. With the use of symbolism, Frost restores life in a spiritless image and showcases the aster flower as a symbol of love amongst a dying field.
In depicting the plain in his poem as a battlefield, Robert Frost effectively deploys a metaphor to illustrate a dark and hopeless setting and highlight how love can be found in devastating settings. By choosing to introduce the scenery as a “headless aftermath” (Frost 2), the poet invokes sad and gloomy emotions right from the start. Making the connection between a mowing field and a battlefield, Frost shows his interpretation of mowing a field as the decapitation of crops; hence, he uses the descriptor “headless.” Following that word, he uses “aftermath”; a word used to describe the consequences of unfortunate or disastrous events. In this setting, Frost is depicting the aftermath of a war. Furthermore, he represents deaths on a battleground when he writes “Smooth-laid like thatch” (Frost 3). Just as soldiers fall during war, the poet imitates this aftermath with replicas of fallen bodies; thatches. Robert’s use of metaphors illustrates a dark sentiment in the ordinary image of a mowing field. In depicting the aftermath of war, he insinuates death, sorrow, and grief in a simple, pleasant, and common setting. By emphasizing a dull and gloomy setting, Frost showcases “the last remaining aster flower” (Frost 15); a small glint of happiness in the character’s somber late walk. In connecting a battlefield with a simple scene such as a mowing field, Robert Frost demonstrates how a glimmer of love can be found in settings as sorrowful as a battlefield.
In addition to using metaphors, Robert Frost uses visual and auditory imagery to show how hope or happiness can be attained in despairing situations. Walking to the garden ground, the narrator meets with scenery that they describe as “sadder than any words” (Frost 8). Frost fully expresses this sadness with his choice of imagery. Using auditory imagery, the author describes the flock of birds above the narrator as a “whir of sober birds” (Frost 6). Although birds are renowned for their beautiful tunes often used in fairytale settings, Robert’s unique choice to express their sounds as a “whir” goes against that connotation and instead invokes sad and gloomy emotions. What stands underneath this flock, the author describes as a “tangle of withered weeds” (Frost 7). Describing a garden ground, Frost draws attention to the ugly and distorted attributes of the garden. Gardens are naturally depicted as organized and flourished, but Frost strays far from that idea when he showcases tangled and withered weeds. Additionally, the choice of detailing weeds blackens the mood of the poem as weeds are generally unwanted and seen as invasive. When the character finally sees the aster flower, they pick “the faded blue” (Frost 14). By introducing a dull and somber setting and then finally ending the poem with colour, Frost accentuates the hope and happiness that the flower induces. Frost’s use of visual and auditory imagery conveys sadness throughout his poem and expresses how even a small bit of hope can be found in a hopeless situation.
Frost employs symbolism, metaphors, and imagery to picture the powerful effect that just the presence of love can cultivate in disheartening situations. Robert took readers on a path alongside his starring character who is taking a late night walk. The poet paints a field corrupted with death and grief, naturally making readers deny there is any hope left in the desolate plain he illustrated. By revealing a faded blue flower standing strong amidst wilting vegetation, Frost demonstrates the discovery of a strong, but hidden everlasting bloom of hope; the aster flower. In his sorrowful setting, Robert Frost leads an inspiring message for his readers. To which a single aster flower can withstand war, battles, and destruction while keeping its glimmer, others too should persevere, fight and battle through despairing times to foster that everlasting blossom of love within.