Mowing

The class' favorite poet, apparently, was Robert Frost. Who would've guessed? I recited "Mowing," which has invaritably become my favorite of Frost's poems. The consonance of the repeated "s" sound throughout the poem, as well as the isolated imagery, give this sense of hushed, calm tranquility. The poem really shouldn't be read aloud. Whispered, only half-spoken, maybe. Frost has the uncanny ability to take something as boring as mowing (with a scythe) alone in a huge field, and turn it into a poetic masterpiece.
The poem also teaches us that only humans would do work for some kind of reward (he mentions rest and money), whereas the scythe takes its only pleasure in the work itself. "The fact is the sweetest dream that labor knows." Truer words. By the end of the poem, the speaker has adopted the scythe's philosophy, and he takes pleasure in his work, not for thought of reward, but in the fact that his work is done.