Read the following extract from Robert Frost's poem, 'A Considerable Speck' and answer the questions that follow: This was no dust speck by my breathing blown, But unmistakably a living mite With inclinations it could call its own.
Describe the narrator’s initial response to the speck. What did he eventually decide to do about it? Why does he make this decision? What does this decision reveal of his character?
Topic: The poet's decision
Answer
At first he was irritated and hostile. He was ready to destroy it, leaning forward with the intention of crushing the intruder that had wandered across his page.
In the end he decided to spare it. He let it lie where it had come to rest on the sheet, and let it sleep there.
He spared it because he had recognised intelligence in it — and he confesses he has no love for "any mind that’s not perturbed" but is glad to encounter mind wherever it appears: "I have a mind myself and recognise / Mind when I meet with it in any guise."
The decision reveals a thoughtful, humane and observant man — one who values intelligence above size or usefulness, whose curiosity overcomes his irritation, and who extends respect even to the smallest creature.
Four tasks in 4 marks — answer each in a sentence or two and do not let the first swallow the rest. The last part is the high-value one: link the act of mercy to Frost’s wider satire that in modern writing "there is no more to be said" because so little of it shows any mind at all. Character questions on this poem should end with respect for intelligence, not sentimental kindness.