“My November Guest” Summary

“My November Guest” Themes

• 

  The Beauty of Sorrow

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• 

  The Solace of Nature

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “My November Guest”

• Lines 1-3

  My sorrow, when she’s here with me,
  Thinks these dark days of autumn rain
  Are beautiful as days can be;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 4-5

  She loves the bare, the withered tree;
  She walks the sodden pasture lane.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 6-10

  Her pleasure will not let me stay.
  She talks and I am fain to list:
  She’s glad the birds are gone away,
  She’s glad her simple worsted grey
  Is silver now with clinging mist.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 11-15

  The desolate, deserted trees,
  The faded earth, the heavy sky,
  The beauties she so truly sees,
  She thinks I have no eye for these,
  And vexes me for reason why.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 16-20

  Not yesterday I learned to know
  The love of bare November days
  Before the coming of the snow,
  But it were vain to tell her so,
  And they are better for her praise.

  

  

  

  

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“My November Guest” Symbols

• 

  Autumn

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“My November Guest” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Personification

  

  

  

  

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• Imagery

  

  

  

  

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• Repetition

  

  

  

  

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• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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“My November Guest” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Withered
• Sodden pasture lane
• Fain to list
• Worsted
• Desolate
• Vexes
• Not yesterday
• But it were vain

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “My November Guest”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“My November Guest” Speaker

“My November Guest” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “My November Guest”

More “My November Guest” Resources

• External Resources

  • Listen to a Recording of the Poem — Hear "My November Guest" read aloud. 

  • First Edition of A Boy's Will — A listing for a first edition of Frost's first book, A Boy's Will, in which "My November Guest" was published. 

  • Learn More About the Poet's Life — A Poetry Foundation biography of Frost. 

  • A 1988 PBS Documentary of Frost — Watch a detailed documentary of the poet from the Voices and Vision series. 

  • A Look at Frost's Relationship to Farming — A New Yorker article discussing Frost's early years on farms and their significance to his poetry. 

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Robert Frost

  • Acquainted with the Night

  • After Apple-Picking

  • A Roadside Stand

  • Birches

  • Desert Places

  • Design

  • Dust of Snow

  • Fire and Ice

  • Home Burial

  • Mending Wall

  • Mowing

  • Nothing Gold Can Stay

  • Out, Out—

  • Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

  • The Death of the Hired Man

  • The Oven Bird

  • The Road Not Taken

  • The Sound of the Trees

  • The Tuft of Flowers

  • The Wood-Pile