Dust always blowing about the town,
Except when sea-fog laid it down,
And I was one of the children told
Some of the blowing dust was gold.

All the dust the wind blew high
Appeared like god in the sunset sky,
But I was one of the children told
Some of the dust was really gold.

Such was life in the Golden Gate:
Gold dusted all we drank and ate,
And I was one of the children told,
‘We all must eat our peck of gold.’

Analysis, meaning and summary of Robert Frost's poem A Peck of Gold

17 Comments

  1. Christy says:

    The kids heard their parents and others speak of the gold and riches that could be gotten there. But only a few ever achieved that dream of becoming rich during the gold rush. It was just a dream for most people. So all the gold and dust-and dreams in the air became the same- all were worthless. This is my take.

  2. emily says:

    i think this poem is saying that it might be hard to decipher what is gold in all this dust,(like finding a needle in a hay stack) but when we do find it we need to take advantage of it.

  3. aina says:

    what is the tone and theme for this poem..anyone ?? thank you..:)

  4. Louis Picciuolo says:

    One could say of parable told
    That gold is dust and dust is gold

  5. Julius says:

    I like this poem, I think it is a comment on growing up: We take the bad with the good or some such idea. Here is why.
    Setting Where, what -San Fran, Gold Rush, town is dirty and there is always dust except when there is fog. Everything is a little dirty. Picture an old west style ghost town or the new york subways.
    Who – a grown up or older child talking about his youth. “I was one of the children told”..what type of child would be told this info?
    The dirt coated everything they touched and interacted with, can you imagine? If it was just dirt, there would be no hope, but gold…possibly there…so much you are eating it. Well that is worth something, it makes you more of something. At least you think it does.
    -Thanks

  6. Ellen says:

    I really don’t totally understand the meaning of the poem, so if anyone out there could write it in the comments I would really apreciate it.

  7. Halima says:

    i don’t think that’s a good poem

  8. ea says:

    The gold dust he is referring to is from the California Gold Rush of the 1800s and all the families who went there looking for it but failed to prosper. If there was gold dust in the air, it had no value, and if children had to eat it in lieu of food, that was what it amounted to.

  9. andrew says:

    This poem is excellent. I have to stand in front of my entire class and recite it. I got to pick the poem, and the reason I picked it is because, it is very easy to understand and it has clues in it like, “such was life in the golden gate”. That is San Francisco so the poem must take place there.

  10. Aly says:

    I had to write a essay on what this poem means and I got a 93% I love the poem its soooo good!

  11. FU says:

    I think the poem is awesome… and i think that robert is sooooo hot… i am gay if he wants meh!

  12. Tiffany Cato says:

    Your awsome I am sending this from my school GJHS. Gilbert Junior High School, we think that you have a great poem here and that you really had heart. We just wanted to show our thanks!!! Great Poet you are!!!!

  13. tiffany says:

    you are a great poet in my opion I really like this poem A Peck of Gold. I think that it is really a poem that stands out from all the others and I thank you for sharing it with me. Thanks Later!!!!

  14. eddy says:

    Awesome best poem i have ever read i wanna marry ROBERT FROSt he is soo hot i love him soo much !! GREAT POEM !! .. love from eddy

  15. Dustin Von Holten says:

    The speaker of this poem is a child, and because the author was born in San Francisco you could infer that he is writing about himself. I’ll tell you why. You can see a clue such as the phrase: such was life in the Golden Gate, which refers to the golden gate bridge in San Francisco, most likely. The author must be the persona, because I think he’s talking about himself as the child in the poem because he was born in San Francisco. That is just my opinion. During the time period of the 1800’s when the author was born in San Francisco the area was all dessert and probably not as grassy as today’s San Francisco. I believe the dust he is referring to is the desert dust kicked up by wind in that area. This poem is represented realistically about the poverty that the author could have had by the statement: Gold dusted all we drank and ate, and we all must eat our peck of gold. The peck of gold is the golden sand flying around his town. I thought this poem was really meaningful to the author at whatever time period in the past he wrote it, because the word choices and locations of repetitive letters show in the paper in front of you. The words seem as they were placed their by a whole day’s considerable thought and not just a quick write-up. The type of poem most likely defined for this poem is imagery because the words rhyme to make you image the picture of this boy, swallowing flying sand. The meaning of the poem from the author’s perspective was probably to show reality just like a comedian does when he cracks a joke on HBO. Everyone can read that the words gold and told rhyme so we have a mixture of rhyming, also the two words Golden gate give a symbol to the boy’s location in the poem from the author’s use of symbolism. The phrase: Appeared like gold in the sunset sky, would be a good usage of a simile in addition to the previously explained poetic devices that the author used.
    The mood of the poem can be termed up by the words unhappy flashback because it’s a recalling of an event from childhood that was bad for the author or unpleasant, Just like a rapper does when recalling his past life situations through rapping . The author recalls his or someone else’s childhood in San Francisco through this poem. To prove my theme: a flashback of an event from the author, I’ll read to you the phrase, and I was one of the children told. I was institutes a past event, most likely from the authors childhood. In fact I was one of the children told is repeated twice in both the beginning and the end paragraph showing the theme being a recollection of the author’s life in windy or dusty San Francisco. Again the theme is the author’s flashback on paper, and the meaning of the poem is for the author to show the reality of that dusty area for a child in that location. Whether it’s him, or someone else is ironic. What do you believe?

  16. Katherine says:

    i think this is a really good poem. i think of it as a “strong poem”. it is very meaningful. THIS IS A GREAT POEM!!!!!!!!!!!!! we did this for our poem last year in sixth grade so, i thought it was a great play. just as a inside class play. we had different groups and i was in the ROBERT FROST group. it was great. i hope you enjoy ROBERT FROST’S poems as much as i do. 🙂

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