Robert Frost (1874 – 1963) is a renowned American poet known for his style and theme of writing. He used colloquial language to express the feelings and thoughts of common people. The road not taken, Fire and ice, Mending wall, Birches, Out Out, Nothing gold can stay, and Home Burial are other works by him.
A prayer in Spring is a poem narrated as a beautiful monologue by Robert Frost with God. It has four stanzas with four quatrains. It follows AABB CCDD EEFF GGEE. It is a poem with explicit meanings and themes.
Simplicity is the soul of this poem. The poet speaks to God about the spring which he thinks is a great blessing. The poet defines prayer as a medium to express his love for God.
The poet explores a different philosophy in which he enjoys everything including a flower. The writer presents the Christian concept of God’s providence, “Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn, yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!”[ Luke 12:24].
The poet feels like he doesn’t need anything else but this beautiful spring. He feels spring is a season of hope. He continues his request to maintain this state of hope and optimism for more days.
He considers himself to be the happy bee that flies around dome-perfect trees. He requests God to maintain his current state of mind in which he enjoys even a white orchard. He also points out the white orchards which seem like ghosts at night.
Towards the end of the poem, Robert Frost presents a pantheistic reading of the poem. He finds nature itself as love and he affirms nothing else is love. In the next line, he compares God to love. By the end of the poem, the poet feels nature itself as God where he enjoys selfless love in its best form.
Read full poem below
Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers today;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.
Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,
Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;
And make us happy in the happy bees,
The swarm dilating ’round the perfect trees.
And make us happy in the darting bird
That suddenly above the bees is heard,
The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,
And off a blossom in mid air stands still.
For this is love and nothing else is love,
To which it is reserved for God above
To sanctify to what far ends He will,
But which it only needs that we fulfill.
