Carpe Diem Poem by Robert Frost

Carpe Diem

Rating: 2.9


Age saw two quiet children
Go loving by at twilight,
He knew not whether homeward,
Or outward from the village,
Or (chimes were ringing) churchward,
He waited, (they were strangers)
Till they were out of hearing
To bid them both be happy.
'Be happy, happy, happy,
And seize the day of pleasure.'
The age-long theme is Age's.
'Twas Age imposed on poems
Their gather-roses burden
To warn against the danger
That overtaken lovers
From being overflooded
With happiness should have it.
And yet not know they have it.
But bid life seize the present?
It lives less in the present
Than in the future always,
And less in both together
Than in the past. The present
Is too much for the senses,
Too crowding, too confusing-
Too present to imagine.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Grayson Cash 07 January 2013

The message of this poem is not happiness. It is from the point of view of an old sad man, who wishes the young could realize that they are happy now, but knows they instead are looking to their future, missing their present lives. It is a sad poem. One filled with regret, and desire to relive the past, knowing that it is never to return. Much of Frost's poetry seems happy at first glance, but yet only a little below the surface is regret, loneliness, and sadness. I love it.

26 8 Reply
Stephen W 03 March 2013

I think Frost is reconciled to the fact that people don't know how to live in the present. He accepts that's just the way it is. He is commenting on the futility of advising us to 'carpe diem'. The leopard cannot change its spots. That is what I think he is saying, I'm not sure he is correct.

26 6 Reply
* Sunprincess * 26 October 2012

wow..awesome message..be happy, happy, happy and seize the day of pleasure..fabulous! .. :)

18 9 Reply
Brian Jani 26 April 2014

Awesome I like this poem, check mine out

3 23 Reply
Fabrizio Frosini 10 July 2015

The meaning of carpe diem as used by Horace is not to ignore the future, but rather not to trust that everything is going to fall into place for you and taking action for the future today. The same In Frost's poem...

12 5 Reply
Angela Revell 12 March 2023

My second favourite poem after The Road Not Taken, also by Frost

0 0 Reply
Kirsten 04 March 2021

Does anybody know, in which book I would find these beautiful words?

0 0 Reply
Mahtab Bangalee 16 June 2020

'Be happy, happy, happy, And seize the day of pleasure.' ......... From being overflooded With happiness should have it............present and future and the happiness making goal everything is flow of current time.....so seize the present as the real life...........thoughtful......10+

0 0 Reply

The presentIs too much for the senses, Too crowding, too confusing- Too present to imagine. Worth remembering

0 0 Reply
Douglas Scotney 16 June 2020

overloaded present......

0 0 Reply
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