A song of love and death by Robert FROST

My butterfly

Robert FROST

Thine emulous fond flowers are dead, too,
And the daft sun-assaulter, he
That frighted thee so oft, is fled or dead:
Save only me (Nor is it sad to thee!)
Save only me
There is none left to mourn thee in the fields.

The gray grass is not dappled with the snow;
Its two banks have not shut upon the river;
But it is long ago--
It seems forever--
Since first I saw thee glance,
With all the dazzling other ones,
In airy dalliance,
Precipitate in love,
Tossed, tangled, whirled and whirled above,
Like a limp rose-wreath in a fairy dance.

When that was, the soft mist
Of my regret hung not on all the land,
And I was glad for thee,
And glad for me, I wist.

Thou didst not know, who tottered, wandering on high,
That fate had made thee for the pleasure of the wind,
With those great careless wings,
Nor yet did I.
And there were other things:
It seemed God let thee flutter from his gentle clasp:
Then fearful he had let thee win Too far beyond him to be gathered in,
Snatched thee, o'er eager, with ungentle grasp.

Ah! I remember me
How once conspiracy was rife
Against my life--
The languor of it and the dreaming fond;
Surging, the grasses dizzied me of thought,
The breeze three odors brought,
And a gem-flower waved in a wand!

Then when I was distraught
And could not speak,
Sidelong, full on my cheek,
What should that reckless zephyr fling
But the wild touch of thy dye-dusty wing!

I found that wing broken to-day!
For thou are dead, I said,
And the strange birds say.
I found it with the withered leaves
Under the eaves.

*********************************************************************************
This was the first poem that Robert Frost sold in 1894. It was published in the New York Independent for $15 ($405 today). Proud of his accomplishment, he proposed marriage to Elinor Miriam White. She refused his proposal, wanting to finish first her college. He then went on  a journey to the Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia. Upon his return, he proposed marriage another time to Elinor. Having graduated, she agreed this time.[1]

In this poem, Frost mourns a butterfly that he loved and which now has died. Just at the beginning, the sorrowful scene already indicates what has happened: something that he loves is dead. Then it turns out to be a butterfly that the poet has seen in the past. He recalls how he fell in love with this beautiful creature on a warm and windy day. His butterfly was like "a limp rose-wreath in a fairy dance". How could he imagine at the time that his butterfly might die one day? He wonders why it would disappear. Perhaps it is a conspiracy of the wind? Perhaps it is God who wants to take it back? The poet cannot help but think that its death is destined.

Frost would not simply express his feelings for a butterfly. There has to be some metaphors in this poem. In my opinion, the butterfly can be a broken love. When two people fall in love with each other, the intense emotions make them carefree and they would never imagine the end of their love. Love can be very beautiful when everything goes right. But finally it may end for all kinds of reasons. They may look back and think, "How funny it is to have thought that this love would last forever and maybe it is a joke of God."

Why would Frost write such a poem? The inspiration was probably derived from his love for Elinor. This poem expressed his anxieties about this relation. They were in love and happy. But how could he be sure that their love would not end up in a tragedy like the "butterfly"? How could he know if God would not try to grasp his butterfly, their love for each other? This feeling might have pushed him to write this poem and propose to Elinor, his butterfly.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Frost