My November Guest

1015 Words5 Pages
In “My November Guest”, poet Robert Frost uses personification to explore the emotions of the speaker. “My Sorrow”, as the poet calls the subject, is described as a woman who, at times, visits the speaker and shapes his view of the changing seasons from summer to autumn and then to winter. The “guest” sees beauty in those changes that the speaker finds emotionally draining. She finds pleasure in the attributes of winter. She loves the bare trees, the “dark days” (line 2), and the neutral colors of grey and silver that the changing of season brings. However, the speaker sees these things in a different light. He finds them to be bland, not enjoyable and at times depressing. Throughout the poem the pleasure that the guest finds in the faded landscape begins to change the speakers perception and he too learns to appreciate it. Frost’s use of personification helps the reader to understand and identify with the interactions that the speaker has with his emotions and the change of heart that he encounters. The reader is addressed with the subject first. It is given the name of “My Sorrow” in line one, and immediately likened to a woman. She is given the ability to think for herself and form opinions during the first stanza, as she “thinks” the dark days are beautiful, and she also “loves” the bare trees. In line five she is animated with the ability to walk. The reader now is able to form a picture of miss “Sorrow” as a living breathing being. Seeing the sorrow as a person shows the reader how it functions. People have free will, the ability to form opinions and the capacity to express emotions. This is how Frost wants us to see the sorrow in this poem and how it is effecting the speaker. It forms its opinions by its own will and develops its own emotions as a separate entity from the speaker and not as another section of his emotions. We clearly
Open Document