Hyla Brook
By Robert Lee Frost
By June our brook’s run out of song and speed.
Sought for much after that, it will be found
Either to have gone groping underground
(And taken with it all the Hyla breed
That shouted in the mist a month ago,
Like ghost of sleigh-bells in a ghost of snow) –
Or flourished and come up in jewel-weed,
Weak foliage that is blown upon and bent
Even against the way its waters went.
Its bed is left a faded paper sheet
Of dead leaves stuck together by the heat –
A brook to none but who remember long.
This as it will be seen is other far
Than with brooks taken otherwhere in song.
We love the things we love for what they are.
Poem Analysis:
Robert Frost’s “Hyla Brook” is a quiet meditation on impermanence, memory, and the beauty found in things often overlooked. Written in Frost’s characteristic plain-spoken style and rural setting, the poem centers on a small seasonal brook — one that has dried up by June, yet holds deep personal meaning for the speaker. Through this seemingly simple subject, Frost explores themes of transience, perception, and emotional attachment.
Summary and Setting
At its surface, “Hyla Brook” describes the fate of a modest brook near Frost’s home in Derry, New Hampshire. During spring, the brook is lively and filled with sound — home to the “Hyla breed,” or tree frogs, who sing in the mist. By June, however, the brook has “run out of song and speed,” disappearing underground or reduced to a trace marked only by weak, bent foliage and a dry bed covered in heat-glued leaves.
Frost closes the poem with a contrast between this humble stream and the more romanticized brooks of literature. Despite its modesty, or perhaps because of it, the speaker loves it — “for what they are.”
Themes and Interpretations
1. Impermanence and Seasonal Change
The brook’s fading vitality is a central symbol of natural impermanence. Frost captures the passing of spring and the coming heat of summer through the brook’s loss of sound and flow:
“By June our brook’s run out of song and speed.”
The loss is neither tragic nor sentimentalized — it's matter-of-fact. This natural cycle is typical of Frost, who often sees beauty in seasonal decay. The poem suggests that transience doesn't diminish worth; it enhances it through the act of remembering.
2. Memory and Emotional Attachment
Frost draws a line between external reality and internal meaning. To outsiders, the dry brook may seem insignificant — but to those who remember it in its livelier season, it carries value:
“A brook to none but who remember long.”
This speaks to the power of memory in shaping emotional landscapes. The brook is a metaphor for any fading or “insignificant” thing that still holds meaning because of past experience. Its current dried-up state does not erase its springtime vitality in the speaker’s mind.
3. Anti-Romanticism and Realism
Frost deliberately contrasts his humble brook with the idealized brooks of other poetry:
“This as it will be seen is other far / Than with brooks taken otherwhere in song.”
He resists the temptation to romanticize nature beyond recognition. Rather than casting the brook in idealized or eternal terms, he presents it realistically — fading, flawed, and seasonal — but no less worthy of affection.
This anti-romantic stance is key to Frost’s philosophy: beauty lies not in embellishment, but in seeing things clearly, as they are.
4. Acceptance and Love
The final line — one of Frost’s most quoted — delivers a simple, profound conclusion:
“We love the things we love for what they are.”
It affirms unconditional love — not for potential, not for appearance, but for essence. The dried-up brook is still beloved, not despite its loss of vitality, but in full acknowledgment of it. The line speaks to personal relationships, nature, memory — and ultimately to a broader worldview of patient, non-idealistic affection.
Symbolism
- The Brook: A symbol of fleeting beauty and natural change. It represents things in life that may not always be present or visible but are valued for their deeper meaning and personal significance.
- The Hyla (tree frogs): Their song represents the ephemeral joy of spring — haunting and ghostlike in memory as the season fades.
- Jewel-weed and dead leaves: These fragile plants and withered remnants symbolize both the brook’s quiet persistence and the marks it leaves behind, even when its voice is gone.
Tone and Style
Frost’s tone in “Hyla Brook” is gentle, contemplative, and slightly wistful. There is no bitterness or grief in the brook’s fading; just quiet observation and respect. His style is conversational but tightly controlled, with subtle use of rhyme and meter that mirrors the gentle flow (and eventual stillness) of the brook itself.
His language is accessible, yet layered. Phrases like “a faded paper sheet / Of dead leaves stuck together by the heat” create both visual and tactile imagery, grounding the poem in physical reality.
Context and Personal Connection
Frost wrote “Hyla Brook” during his years on a farm in New Hampshire. The brook in question was a real seasonal stream that ran near his property. His affection for this humble, often-overlooked feature of the landscape underscores his broader poetic project: to find significance in the ordinary, and to resist the sentimentalism of nature poetry that was popular at the time.
Loving the Imperfect and the Real
“Hyla Brook” is a quiet poem with lasting resonance. It invites us to reflect on how we value things not for how grand they are, but for what they mean to us. In an age often obsessed with novelty and perfection, Frost reminds us to look at what’s fading, small, or easily forgotten — and find there, too, a source of love.
His final line lingers like the ghost-song of the frogs: “We love the things we love for what they are.” It's a statement of humility, realism, and deep emotional truth — and it is what makes this poem, like the brook itself, a treasure to those who remember.