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Good Hours

"Good Hours" is a sixteen line poem by American poet Robert Frost. It was firstly published in Fros

Good Hours
by Robert Frost
Here the "North Boston" is a collection of poems by Robert Frost. This collection contains the poem "The Wood-pile".
First published in	North of Boston
Country	England
Language	English
Form	Quatern
Rhyme scheme	AABB
Publisher	David Nutt
Publication date	1914

t's second book, his collection of poems North of Boston, in 1914 by David nutt. While it is one of his lesser known poems, it is no doubt beautiful and artistic in the least.

Background

Frost wrote "Good Hours" in 1915, for the second printing of North of Boston, a period when he was consolidating his identity as a poet in America. The poem reflects his experiences and observations from his time in New England.

Frost himself faced a great deal of heartbreak in his time. The writing of the poem coincides with a time when, after the beginning of World War I, Robert Frost had returned to live in the United States, after having previously traveled to Great Britain a few years prior with his family. It might make sense to think of Frost being inspired by a sense of separation that would understandably have arisen from moving back to America, as travel has been known to cause. Frost’s personal life was also one that involved a great deal of tragedy, and loneliness would be an understandable aspect of his personality, even at this point in his life.

Overview

In the poem, the author himself is the main character and narrator. The scene described evokes a sense of solitude and reflection. Good Hours consists of 4 quartrains with AABB rhyming scheme.

On a solitary winter evening walk, the speaker finds solace in a row of cottages glowing warmly against the snow. Imagining the lives within – the sound of a violin and youthful figures – the speaker enjoys this temporary companionship. Reaching the end of the cottages, regret sets in, but upon returning, darkness reigns, suggesting the occupants are asleep. The speaker's creaking footsteps now disrupt the quiet village, leaving a sense of intrusion on the peaceful scene.

In this poem about a winter evening walk, Robert Frost doesn't tell us a long story about the speaker's life. It's just a snapshot in time, yet it's still full of strong feelings and beautiful imagery.

Good Hours

I had for my winter evening walk—
No one at all with whom to talk,
But I had the cottages in a row
Up to their shining eyes in snow.

And I thought I had the folk within:
I had the sound of a violin;
I had a glimpse through curtain laces
Of youthful forms and youthful faces.

I had such company outward bound.
I went till there were no cottages found.
I turned and repented, but coming back
I saw no window but that was black.

Over the snow my creaking feet
Disturbed the slumbering village street
Like profanation, by your leave,
At ten o’clock of a winter eve.

Robert Frost, 1914

Themes

Like in his other poems during this period, Frost deals with loneliness and solitude. Beside this, Frost touches on many themes in her poem, including connection to nature, fear, and isolation.

The strongest theme present in this poem is that of isolation. We have the narrator that is entirely removed from other events inside the poem. For example, he "had the cottages in a row / Up to their shining eyes in snow.", but when he "turned and repented", then he "saw no window but that was black." The narrator is outside in the dark, people in cotteges and in the village street are in the light. The last stanza verifies and concludes his isolation, because it is the village that disturbs him. We feel only his steps, his imagination, his creaking feet that are related to him, but the environment distracts him.

The title of the poem is interesting — “to keep good hours” typically refers to going to bed early, which the narrator of the poem evidently isn’t doing.