The Deeper Meaning of Frost's Tuft of Flowers Robert Lee Frost published his first book of poems entitled A Boy's Will in 1913. From this collection comes one of numerous poems that critics and anthologists alike are highly regarded for both their lyrical and autobiographical nature. One of these critics, James L. Potter, in his book entitled [The] Robert Frost Handbook, explains "[that] Frost wore a mask in public most of the time, hiding his personal problems and complexities from the public who read and listened" ( Potter 48). Through “The Tuft of Flowers,” a sort of lyrical soliloquy, Frost “almost intentionally” reveals his personal opinions on the topic of brotherhood (Potter 48). In the first of the three transitions the speaker, most likely a farmer, goes out into a field just after dawn to let freshly cut grass dry in the sun. The farmer then searches for the mower, but finds that he is all alone. Here the reader perceives the solitude of the scene. Frost's use of figurative language such as "level scene" and "an island of trees" gives evidence of the speaker's mood of pessimism and loneliness as he implies that it must be "as it had been - alone" (4-5, 8). Potter writes that Frost "was often filled with doubts about his role in relation to his family and friends, and even about his poetic powers" (Potter 47). We also get the sense that the speaker (Frost) is suggesting that throughout his life he often feels alone and longs for kinship with his peers. As the speaker gives in to this pessimistic train of thought, a "bewildered butterfly" passes "on a silent wing" and ushers in the poem's second transition (12). Frost uses the butterfly scene in subsequent couplets up to...... middle of paper......, Potter writes: The shared happiness represented here... seems to be more than just a personal relationship between two [ farmers]; rather it is a general benevolence that... creates a good world. [This] feeling is shared by the two lawnmowers in "The Tuft of Flowers." The speaker, finding a clump of flowers deliberately left by a previous shearer, senses "a kindred spirit to [his] own" and concludes that "men work together... / Whether they work together or separately." (Potter 89) On Reflecting more carefully, we readers might generalize the meaning of the poem to indicate humanity's need to be part of society outwardly and to keep the fields of our hearts inwardly free from things that might suffocate "The Tuft of Flowers ". Work Cited Frost, Robert. "The tuft of flowers." Robert Frost Handbook. Ed. James L. Potter. University Park: Penn State UP, 1980.