In the first three lines of the poem, actually lines 2-3 I am having trouble obtaining meaning out of. Also I know there is a tone shift at the end of the poem, I hope!, but am sort of puzzled as to what it means. My understanding is the star asks of mankind to find comfort in the star. However I feel like Im am being thrown off a train here. Did I miss the purpose of the other lines? I thought that Frost is commenting on mankinds inability to find fulfillment with their discovers and that the star was a symbol for mans need to know everything. I am desperately lost....I would love any help on this.
Here's the poem:
O Star (the fairest one in sight),
We grant your loftiness the right
To some obscurity of cloud-
It will not do to say of night,
Since dark is what brings out your light.
Some mystery becomes the proud.
But to the wholly taciturn
In your reserve is not allowed.
Say something to us we can learn
By heart and when alone repeat.
Say something! And it says, 'I burn.'
But say with what degree of heat.
Talk Fahrenheit, talk Centigrade.
Use Language we can comprehend.
Tell us what elements you blend.
It gives us strangely little aid,
But does tell something in the end
And steadfast as Keats' Eremite,
Not even stooping from its sphere,
It asks a little of us here.
It asks of us a certain height,
So when at times the mob is swayed
To carry praise or blame too far,
We may choose something like a star
To stay our minds on and be staid.