I need help analyzing Robert Frost's poem "The Aim was Song" for a theme paper I have to write. If anyone has any input, that would be great. I specifically need help understanding these lines:

"He took a little in his mouth,
And held it long enough for north
To be converted into south,
And then by measure blew it forth."

This is the poem:

Before man came to blow it right
The wind once blew itself untaught,
And did its loudest day and night
In any rough place where it caught.

Man came to tell it what was wrong:
It hadn't found the place to blow;
It blew too hard-- the aim was song.
And listen-- how it ought to go!

He took a little in his mouth,
And held it long enough for north
To be converted into south,
And then by measure blew it forth.

By measure. It was word and note,
The wind the wind had meant to be--
A little through the lips and throat.
The aim was song-- the wind could see.

Thank you!!!

Ashleigh, the key to understanding the lines you've selected lies in these two lines:

The wind once blew itself untaught (Meaning the wind was out of tune.)

It blew too hard-- the aim was song. (Meaning the wind was not as controlled as a song is.)


Man came along and used the wind and controlled it. By doing this he created "music".


Les

Thank you for your help! Do you by chance know what he's talking about when he uses the words north and south?

I think he's probably just using those terms to say: "The wind was blowing every which way with no rhyme or reason."

Les

Would you say that the theme is that man teaches nature how to do better what it already does?

Not really, I think the theme is that man "uses" or "harnesses" nature for his own purpose improving on what nature can do alone.

An analogy to this poem might be the construction of a dam to control yearly flooding of a river.


Les

I think it's about learning to whistle.

An oboe is an ill wind that no one blows good

( Danny Kaye?)

Undisciplined Wind
Forced through the Trouser Trumpet
I'm blaming the Dog

Whistling in the Dark (They Might Be Giants)

A woman came up to me and said
I’d like to poison your mind
With wrong ideas that appeal to you
Though I am not unkind
She looked at me, I looked at something
Written across her scalp
And these are the words that it faintly said
As I tried to call for help:

(Chorus)
There’s only one thing that I know how to do well
And I’ve often been told that you only can do
What you know how to do well
And that’s be you,
Be what you’re like,
Be like yourself,
And so I’m having a wonderful time
But I’d rather be whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
There’s only one thing that I like
And that is whistling in the dark

A man came up to me and said
I’d like to change your mind
By hitting it with a rock, he said,
Though I am not unkind.
We laughed at his little joke
And then I happily walked away
And hit my head on the wall of the jail
Where the two of us live today.

(Chorus)

i think it is describing how man is meddling with nature and that originally it could function perfectly but man wanted the wind/nature to do his work-singing.

Man came to tell it what was wrong:
It hadn't found the place to blow;
It blew too hard -- the aim was song

this is describing how man was criticing the winds work and it had just said it caught in any rough place saying that is was always singing or at least howling and man just thinks it is wrong now.

And then by measure blew it forth.By measure. It was word and note,
The wind the wind had meant to be --

measure- like the measures in a piece of music. the wind the wind had meant to be. tricky maybe to understand the wind was trying to be the same wind that man had produced-song.

it also might not always be improving nature's methods but just thinking man's
ideas are the best and not looking at what has previously been happening for
millenia. maybe