The Aim Was Song Explication

Robert Frost wrote the poem in iambic tetrameter. There are four stanzas, each with four lines. The first and third lines rhyme in a stanza and the second and fourth lines rhyme. He uses a regular rhyme and meter to show the how man has created a structure for the wind and poetry. Frost personifies the wind because it has a goal to make song and learns a lesson from man. He calls it "untaught" because it is uncontrollable at first. It blows wildly and loudly, until man arrives to form it into poetry. Man teaches the wind how to blow correctly with less force. He takes only a little wind when he blows it, so it is no longer too strong. The wind has a habit of blowing hard and has to become gentler to transform into song. Man changes the wind from north to south because it becomes the opposite of its rough former self. Frost begins to repeat words in the last stanza, such as "by measure" and "wind," so the lines flow more smoothly, similar to the sound of the now tamed wind.

Frost uses the poem to show the relationship between nature and man or poetry. He implies that man tries to control nature, which he adjusts to fit his own standards. He thinks that he is superior to the wind, even thought it has existed for much longer than him. He believes that the wind would be grateful to receive help from him because he is improving it by transforming the blowing into poetry. However, the wind remains powerful because man can only control a little wind at a time which can fit in his mouth. Also, Frost explains that poetry comes from nature. Although man uses a small amount of wind for creating song, the poetry still contains some of the wind's original power. There is a small untamed part of the wind that can still found in poetry, despite man's control, which is the creativity and unpredictability of a poem.