Frost didn't exactly fit the classic, high-brow vision of a poet. He was a farmer and had a solid salt-of-the-earth mentality that really set him apart from most of his contemporaries. Not only did he stick to writing about what he knew, regardless of how critics felt about his subject matter, but he also had a knack for finding the profound in everyday things. In "Mowing," a man is very simply, well, mowing a field, but the poem is a statement about how the truth of the world can be found through getting lost in your labors.
Ultimately then, the poem is a rather rebellious treatise on poetry itself. Frost is pushing back against the idea that poetry is precious and can only be experienced in the salons of the wealthy while wearing velvet jackets and drinking expensive sherry that no one really likes anyway. No, Frost claims that high art can be found in low places, and in the case of "Mowing" it's quite literally found on the ground, beneath the poet's long-handled farm tool.
Questions About Art and Culture
- Why is the scythe whispering all this deep, meaningful stuff?
- Why does the speaker call "idle hours" a "gift"? Do you think he's being serious here? Why or why not?
- How do you think Frost felt about being criticized for his preferred subject matter, and how does this poem illustrate those feelings?
Chew on This
This poem shows us that writing poetry takes actual work, the same kind of labor required to cut down a field of grass.
Frost wasn't able to write about anything more complicated than farm life because he was really rather simple-minded.