Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


LETTER TO JOSEPH WARREN by ROBERT FROST

Poem Explanation Poet Analysis

First Line: WINTER HAS BEATEN SUMMER IN FIGHT
Last Line: HER RUINED CITY WITH SALT.
Subject(s): WINTER;

Franconia, October
Dear Stark Young:

Winter has beaten Summer in fight
And shaken the Summer state.
He has come to her capital city of Trees
To find but an open gate,

None to resist him; Summer herself
Gone from her windy towers,
First having hurried away her birds
And hidden away her flowers.

He has set her desert citadel
In one autumnal blaze,
Whereover the crows like something charred
Rise and fall in the haze.

So has he served her Summer pride
And punished a royal fault.
And he has appointed a day to sow
Her ruined city with salt.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net