In honour of the Vernal Equinox – a time of rebirth and renewal and rejuvenation – I wanted to share one of my favourite poems with you. It is entitled “A Prayer in Spring” by Robert Frost, and it was published in 1915.
Poems are a wonderful way for English language learners to explore figurative language. Can you identify the simile in the 1st and 2nd stanzas of the poem? Can you identify the metaphor in the third stanza? Enjoy the delightful images of spring as the poet welcomes the new season.
A Prayer in Spring
by Robert Frost
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,
The which it is reserved for God above
To sanctify to what far ends He will,
But which it only needs that we fulfil.
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