...Robert Frost is one of the most famous poet’s, winning four Pulitzers Prizes, and even reciting one of his poems at President John F. Kennedy’s inauguration. Frost was born in San Francisco, but spent most of his life in New England, as a teacher and farmer, in rural New Hampshire. Frost often uses natural elements in his poetry, especially New England landscapes. He uses seasons, flowers, fields, stars, and time of day to set a logical sequence of events to paint a psychological feeling inside the reader’s mind. Two of Robert Frost’s poems, “Desert Places” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”, take readers through a New England winter setting, reflecting the beautiful scenery through his descriptive imagery. However, even though these two poems are set in a wintry backdrop, they convey very different tones. One has a feeling of loneliness, and the other a welcoming feeling of solitude. In this paper, I intend to illustrate how two very similar natural settings are written to express two very different themes of loneliness. The poems “Desert Places” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” have quite a few similarities. For instance, they both share the same rhythmic scheme; A,A,B,A. They both are set in a snowy, evening where darkness is taking over quickly. In both poems there is a man traveling alone, where no other souls are around. There is a sense that both travelers are stepping away from life for a brief moment in time. The contrast of darkness and whiteness...
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...a flower can bring about the deepest life questions. This is exactly the case in “Design,” one of Robert Frost’s most renowned poems that he wrote in 1922. In Robert Frost’s “Design,” Frost utilizes juxtaposition though natural similes and rhetorical questions to parallel the poem’s structure of comparing the white spider on the heal-all to evil and corruption in the world. Just as Robert Frost’s “Design” evolves in comparing the white spider on the heal-all flower to deep philosophical questions, similes throughout the first eight stanzas create a major contrast between the flower and the spider. Throughout the poem, Frost utilizes similes such as “like a white piece of rigid satin cloth” (Frost 3) and “like the ingredients of a witch’s broth” (Frost 6) to completely contradict the destruction and hate of the killer spider to the goodness of the healing flower. In effect, Frost...
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...“Acquainted with the night” by Robert Frost. In “Acquainted with the night” by Robert Frost he describes himself as being alone, depressed and he has no meaning. Robert may have related this poem to some of the tragedies he had in his life, whether it was the death of this father at an early age or the death of his children, he defiantly was dark and depressed in this poem. The poem starts off by saying “I have been one acquainted with the night”. He uses the word acquainted which means you have met something. So Frost is saying he has met the night which is a weird thing to say. Frost also states he is one, maybe the night and Frost are together or he is one out of others that are acquainted along with the night with him. In the next line Frost says “I have walked out in rain-and back in rain” Frost is saying he had went somewhere and later returned and both times it was raining. Whether it was a quick walk or it had just been raining for however long he was out for. But at the end of the first stanza he says that “I have out walked the furthest city light.” Which means that this was no ordinary short walk he either walked out past the city limits to where there is no light or to another part of the town where there is just darkness. In the second stanza Frost describes himself as being depressed. You can tell this by the first line in Frost’s second stanza which is “I have looked down the saddest city lane.” This line is describing how Frost feels and what objects around...
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...“Acquainted with the night” by Robert Frost. In “Acquainted with the night” by Robert Frost he describes himself as being alone, depressed and he has no meaning. Robert may have related this poem to some of the tragedies he had in his life, whether it was the death of this father at an early age or the death of his children, he defiantly was dark and depressed in this poem. The poem starts off by saying “I have been one acquainted with the night”. He uses the word acquainted which means you have met something. So Frost is saying he has met the night which is a weird thing to say. Frost also states he is one, maybe the night and Frost are together or he is one out of others that are acquainted along with the night with him. In the next line Frost says “I have walked out in rain-and back in rain” Frost is saying he had went somewhere and later returned and both times it was raining. Whether it was a quick walk or it had just been raining for however long he was out for. But at the end of the first stanza he says that “I have out walked the furthest city light.” Which means that this was no ordinary short walk he either walked out past the city limits to where there is no light or to another part of the town where there is just darkness. In the second stanza Frost describes himself as being depressed. You can tell this by the first line in Frost’s second stanza which is “I have looked down the saddest city lane.” This line is describing how Frost feels and what objects around...
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...“Acquainted with the night” by Robert Frost. In “Acquainted with the night” by Robert Frost he describes himself as being alone, depressed and he has no meaning. Robert may have related this poem to some of the tragedies he had in his life, whether it was the death of this father at an early age or the death of his children, he defiantly was dark and depressed in this poem. The poem starts off by saying “I have been one acquainted with the night”. He uses the word acquainted which means you have met something. So Frost is saying he has met the night which is a weird thing to say. Frost also states he is one, maybe the night and Frost are together or he is one out of others that are acquainted along with the night with him. In the next line Frost says “I have walked out in rain-and back in rain” Frost is saying he had went somewhere and later returned and both times it was raining. Whether it was a quick walk or it had just been raining for however long he was out for. But at the end of the first stanza he says that “I have out walked the furthest city light.” Which means that this was no ordinary short walk he either walked out past the city limits to where there is no light or to another part of the town where there is just darkness. In the second stanza Frost describes himself as being depressed. You can tell this by the first line in Frost’s second stanza which is “I have looked down the saddest city lane.” This line is describing how Frost feels and what objects around...
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...Jack Carr CRW 203 Melville 9/10/2009 The Sonnets of Robert Frost In the sonnets, Design and Putting in the Seed, by Robert Frost, every word in each poem takes on a powerful meaning enhanced by aspects of poetry such as form, rhyme, imagery, caesura, and metaphor. Both sonnets are very resembling in form, but are a far cry from being similar in meaning, emotion, effect, and essence. Frost soundly blends all of the aspects of poetry in these two sonnets to make them delightfully unique. The first sonnet by Frost, Design, is a very dismal yet captivating poem written in a rhythm of iambic pentameter. The first thing that struck me about this poem was the way Frost hooks the reader with imagery in the first line. “I found a dimpled spider, fat and white”, the vivid description of the spider is eerie and chilling, but very effective. . The rhyme scheme of the octave is ABBAABBA and the rhyme scheme of the sestet CDCCDD. Masculine rhyme is used exclusively in Design. Masculine rhyme added to the ease of reading this poem, which made it easier to identify the meaning of the poem. Frost uses the form of the octave and sestet in the sonnet very effectively. Caesura and enjambment are used in the octave to make it one long run-on sentence. Frost uses the octave to give the reader a visual picture of the spider and graveyard of its web. He uses a metaphor to compare the spider’s web on the flower to a “witches’ broth”. Using imagery, similes, and metaphors, he builds up the...
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...Tradition Triggers Tragedy Traditions are blueprints for our beliefs, values, memories, relationships, and overall, our bond to society. They give a sense of belonging and can bring families together and reconnect friends. Not all traditions are healthy though. Both “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “Mending Wall” by Robert Frost reveal the dangers in following tradition blindly. However, Frost uses symbolism to address this theme, while Jackson relies on word choice that creates a suspenseful tone. Initially, Both Jackson and Frost urge the reader to notice the negative impacts on questionable traditions. The citizens in “The Lottery” choose to carry out a tradition of coming together to find a winner of the town lottery in order to sacrifice...
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...American Poetry Interpretation Robert Frost, one of the most famous poets in American history, gave a whole new window to the world to view it through poetry. His poetry collection explores many different aspects of his writing. Though he was one of the finest poets in American history, his works were the subject of misinterpretation due to the figurative language used in his works. The publication of most of Frost’s successful poems occurred after he moved to New England in 1912. As a result, Frost used the scenery of New England’s surroundings, nature, and the speech of the countryside in many of his poems. Frost’s poems seem to explain the nature of living of people and seem to be self-explanatory on the surface, but his observations have an edge of skeptics and irony, which the reader discovers upon reading several of his poems. His poems are never as old-fashioned, easy or carefree as they might appear on the surface. Though Frost used the uncomplicated language of the New England countryside, the complicated and darker themes of his poems do not appear on the surface. Nature comes into play in the first live of the poem “The Road Not Taken” when Frost introduces two separate paths in the woods, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, / And sorry I could not travel both” (Frost, 1999/1916, line 1-2). He has to make a choice during his journey in the woods regarding, which path he should choose to be same and happy at the end but is not able to decide the right path...
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...Antipathy of Robert Frost Irving Rowe was correct in saying that Frost’s best work was “antipathetic to the notion that the universe is inherently good or delightful or hospitable to our needs” (Howe). This is abundantly clear in his poems “Out, Out-” and “Design”. These poems demonstrate the disdain and meaninglessness found in both nature and existence itself in their tone and the striking, harsh reality of their conclusions. Frost’s apathy, as contrasted to his “homey philosophy” and “wandering romanticism”, is jarring, and prompts interior reflection on the meaning of life and man’s relation to God (Howe). Both “Out, Out-” and “Design” are poems that use their tone to convey the cruelty of the universe. “Out, Out-” in particular...
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...In Robert Frosts’ poem Design, he contemplates upon G-d’s existence while observing a spider eating a moth on a flower. He seems to be in awe of the great design of nature, but doesn’t understand where the design came from as he feels he’s in the “darkness”, away from the light of truth. The speaker’s thoughts show that he realizes there is meaning in all these parts and wonders if there is a design for his life as well. Robert Frost presents some irony throughout the poem. He repeats the word “white” many times, whether to describe the spider, the flower, etc., when the poem’s main theme is death as the spider eats the moth. Also, the spider might have realized that he had an observer, but G-d was watching him and observing him the whole time. We also see some metonymy in the poem when the poet says, “And dead wings carried like a paper kite,” as he uses a kite to describe the wings. We also see synecdoche in the poem when the poet says, “Assorted characters of death and blight mixed ready to begin the morning right, like the ingredients of a witches’ broth..” In the poem the moth is “standing in the witches’ cauldron,” so to speak. The poet also contemplates if there are two designers in the world as he feels that he designs his own life as well. Just as he is watching and observing the spider so too G-d is watching and observing...
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...Robert Lee Frost was one of America's leading 20th-century poets and a four-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Often regarded as a poet associated with rural New England, he wrote poems whose philosophical ideas transcended any region of the country. North, East, West and South, no matter where the person came from, Robert Frost could communicate through poetry. Although his verse forms are traditional, he was a pioneer in the poetic use of the vocabulary and variations of everyday speech. He was able to conjure emotions that most people would not talk about in public (death, the loss of a loved one, man’s own mortality) and inject his poems with symbolism and metaphors. In 1885, when Robert Frost was 11, his father died and the family left California and moved to Massachusetts. Frost attended high school in that state, entered Dartmouth College, but remained less than one semester. Returning to Massachusetts, he taught school, worked in a mill and as a newspaper reporter. In 1894 he sold “My Butterfly: An Elegy" to The Independent, a New York literary journal. A year later he married Elinor White, with whom he had known from Lawrence High School in Mass. From 1897 to 1899, he attended Harvard College as a special student but left without a degree. Over the next ten years he wrote (but rarely published) poems, operated a farm in Derry, New York, and supplemented his income by teaching at Derry's Pinkerton Academy. In 1912, at the age of 38, he sold the farm and used the...
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...Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost are two American writers whose specialty is writing some of the most darkest and at the same time informative poems about life. The poetry of Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost contains similar themes and concepts. Both poets attempt to connect with their readers by their poems of death and solitariness. Dickinson and Frost both used death as one of their themes. In Emily's poem Because I could not stop for Death, the speaker is communicating from beyond the grave, describing her journey vividly with death. In the first stanza, the speaker is too busy for Death. “Because I could not stop for Death” so death takes the time to stop for her. This suggests that death has arrived and the speaker is aware of this. The carriage that they are traveling in is moving along at an easy, unhurried pace; perhaps suggesting that death has arrived in the form of a disease that takes time to kill its host. “We slowly drove, he knew no haste” (Dickinson). By the third stanza she believes she is still alive but then realizes that she just passed away. “We passed the Setting Sun, or rather he passed us “ (Dickinson). In the final stanza, after the realization of her new place in the world, her death also becomes suddenly very real, as “The Dews drew quivering and chill” (Dickinson). After this moment of seeing the coldness of her death, the carriage pauses at her new home .“A Swelling of the Ground“(Dickinson) ,makes it clear that they are referring to a grave. In...
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...The Evil Nature and Evil Omen “Design” by Robert Frost and “I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died” by Emily Dickinson use natural objects as symbols. In the poem “Design,” life forms within nature are connected and under the influence of a greater consciousness. In “I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died,” Emily Dickinson talks about seeing a fly as she takes her final breath. By focusing on natural objects within the poems, both poets reveal the negative nature of their chosen symbols. In the poem “Design,” a spider symbolizes death; in “I heard a Fly Buzz When I Died,” a fly figures as the omen of death. In first stanza of “Design,” Frost describes a spider as “dimpled,” the flower like a “froth,” and the moth like “white satin.” However, in line 4, the spider, flower, and moth are also described as “assorted characters of death and blight.” Frost chooses his words carefully throughout the entire poem. Deirdre Fagan and Robert Seltzer state that “he intentionally contrasts the white innocence of the description of all three characters with the seemingly horrific actions they undertake. Even the spider, which is apparently the exterminator, is described in terms usually applied to infants (‘dimpled’ and ‘fat’)” (Fagan and Seltzer 49.) At this moment, it is difficult to understand how innocence could turn to death and evil. Frost describes the moth as being made of “satin cloth” and the spider as a “snow drop spider” (Frost 7). These reveal Frost’s appreciation of the beauty of the...
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...The Attraction of Woods on a Snowy Evening In Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, we follow what appears to be the traveler’s short journey through a beautiful snowy landscape. Words such as peaceful and serene come to mind. During the first few lines of this poem it seems as if this traveler has found an idyllic setting. However, upon closer examination, we have to ask the question of why this traveler has picked “the darkest evening of the year…to stop without a farmhouse near.” Does this traveler have other things on his mind beyond admiring the scenery? Let’s step into the setting of this poem and see what intentions this weary traveler had. Beginning with the title, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” the reader already knows that the traveler is stopping to admire the falling snow in this wintery land. Sounds pleasing enough, yet the very first line alerts the reader to the fact that the traveler is somewhat cognizant as to who’s woods he is journeying through. He goes onto mention that the owner of the woods won’t know he is there since the owner lives in the village. This seems to give some indication that maybe there is more going on in this traveler’s mind. Almost a hint that he is either trespassing on this land or maybe he just doesn’t want anyone to know what he is up to. The fourth line of this poem, “To watch his woods fill up with snow”, seems to be a turning point where the reader is taken from this idyllic setting to almost...
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...Mending Wall Analysis Robert Frost is often referred to as a poet of nature. Words and phrases such as fire and ice, flowers in bloom, apple orchards and rolling hills, are all important elements of Frost's work. These ‘benign' objects provide an alternative way to look at the world and are often used as metaphors to describe a darker view of nature and humans. In Frost's poetry, the depth is as important as the surface. The darker aspects of Frost's poetry are often portrayed through the use of symbolism, vivid imagery, and selective word choice. Frost's poems appear to be simple on the surface, yet upon further scrutiny the poems reveal themselves as elusive. Frost utilizes ordinary objects to create a deeper meaning. For example, the poem "Mending Wall", appears to be about the differences between two neighbors and their ideas on rebuilding a wall. On the other hand, the wall may be viewed, in a more general sense, as a symbol to represent all the antagonistic or mistrustful barriers that divide man from man.It describes how the conservative farmer follows traditions blindly and the isolated life followed by him. It reflects how people make physical barriers and that later in life come to their social life too. Where neighbor with pine tree, believes that this separation is needed as it is essential for their privacy and personal life. The poem explores a paradox in human nature. The first few lines reflect demolition of the wall, ? Something there is that doesn?t...
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