...In Robert Frost's symbolic poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay" he uses the literary devices rhyme, personification, metaphor, and imagery to convey meaning; he explains how nothing, especially something beautiful can last forever. Ways he shows this is "The first green of spring is her hardest hue to hold" and "so Eden sank with grief". All these express that nothing good can last. Frost uses nature as his theme because the cycle of life and death showed through the season provides imagery that people can picture in their head. Robert Frost wrote "nothing gold can stay" after his mother dies and his brother was diagnosed with a life-threatening disease. This explains how his theme nothing good lasts forever relates to him in a personal way. When...
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..."Nature's first green is gold" ......................Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost Frost's poem contains the perfect image of Vermont's spring landscape. The hardwoods lose their leaves in autumn and stay bare through the winter. In spring, the first green to appear is really gold as the buds break open. The willows and maples have this temporary gold hue. In only a few days, the leaves mature to green. Figurative Language Figurative language uses "figures of speech" - a way of saying something other than the literal meaning of the words. For example, "All the world's a stage" Frost often referred to them simply as "figures." Frost said, "Every poem I write is figurative in two senses. It will have figures in it, of course; but it's also a figure in itself - a figure for something, and it's made so that you can get more than one figure out of it." Cook Voices p235 Metaphor A figure of speech in which a comparison is made between two things essentially unalike. To Frost, metaphor is really what poetry is all about. He is notably a poet of metaphors more than anything else. This is so important, we should hear directly from the poet. Frost said," Poetry begins in trivial metaphors, pretty metaphors, 'grace metaphors,' and goes on to the profoundest thinking that we have. Poetry provides the one permissible way of saying one thing and meaning another. People say, 'Why don't you say what you mean?' We never do that, do we, being all of us too much poets. We like...
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...Robert Frost and Shaun Tan use different mediums and techniques in order to represent similar ideas about journeys. Journeys can lead to self-growth. Choice, change, discoveries and new experiences can all result in having undertaken a journey. Shaun Tan and Robert Frost have each explored these ideas in their texts The Arrival and The Road Not Taken. In Robert Frost’s poem The Road Not Taken, Frost conveys his perspective on the journey through the use of a variety of language techniques. Journeys involve choices, which can slightly or significantly alter the paths we take in life as the poem consists of two roads which metaphorically represent choices. “ Two roads diverged ... and that has made all the difference” demonstrates how the author has learned to take responsibility for the choices he has made in life and is content that choices make who we are. Robert Frost uses several techniques such as metaphors, repetition and symbolism. Repetition displays the character’s frustration towards making choices and symbolism shows the unseeable end to this path being taken. The main technique used is metaphor as the whole poem represents the journey of life and the choices that are a part of it. The journeys in life we take can lead to choices that change our life forever. Throughout a journey an individual must make a variety of choices. The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost clearly shows the composer’s thoughts on making choices throughout a journey. In the first stanza of the...
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...“Miles to go before I sleep” Robert Frost’s poem, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”, is a few lines describing a man’s horse ride through the woods, but it speaks to everyone who reads it about major questions concerning their lives. In Stanley Burnshaw’s Biography, “Robert Frost”, he said, “In the great short lyrics of New Hampshire (1923) and West-Running Brook (1928)—such as “Fire and Ice,” “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” and the title poem of the latter book—a bleak outlook on life persuasively emerges from the combination of dramatic tension and nature imagery freighted with ambiguity”. Frost was a powerful poet who used metaphors and imagery in his writings; for that reason most of his written work is discussed at the academic level and his work can often be...
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...Jessica Ingram English 102 09/24/2011 ‘’The Road Not Taken’’ is a poem by Robert Frost and it was taken from his own personal experience. He begins to talk about the times when he had to make tough decisions in his life. In the poem it may seem like he regrets his decision and would like to know what the other outcome could be. In my opinion this poem keeps you in suspense and on the edge of your seat. By being a first tine reader I found it very obvious that Frost regretted his decision of path he chose. But at times he seems grateful for his experiences. It depends on what the reader takes from it. The inspiration of this poem came from his friend Edward Thomas of England. Robert and his friend would often take walks through the countryside. He would always choose the path that he thought would have more interest and would show him a better time. But by the end of the walk he would often regret the decision that he made. After the walks he would often ‘sigh’ because he felt he could have chosen a better direction. His friend would always tease him about the regrets he would have over the decisions he would make. When Robert sighs in the poem you can take it to different ways. He could be implying that it was sigh of relief or sign of regret. He could be really happy or regretful about the path that he chose. I learned that he never really told anyone what the sigh meant. He said it was...
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...Robert Frost, born on March 26, 1874, in San Francisco. As it says on poet.org about Robert Frost, He became interested in reading and writing poetry during his high school years in Lawrence, enrolled at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, in 1892, and later at Harvard University in Boston, though he never earned a formal college degree. Some of Robert Frost’s poems I’m using are Fire & Ice, The Runaway, and The Road Not Taken and how he uses the three literary elements such as Implied Metaphor, Personification, and Extended Metaphor to create the theme of Hatred, Desire, and Making Choices can lead to Freedom. Starting it off, Fire & Ice, published on December 1920. Robert Frost uses Implied Metaphor in the poem. Example in the poem are, “Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From What I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate To say that for...
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...The Darkness in the life of Robert Frost 03 Aug 2012 Robert frost is one of the most well-known and enticing poets of the 20th century. His poems were full of metaphors, similes, symbolism, and onomatopoeias. He was a very descriptive and egocentric writer whose work is usually known for being rooted in realism with some dark undertones. What makes Robert frost’s works seem so dark? In this paper I will analyze his poetry, which may provides the answer to what made Robert frost one of the greatest, yet darkest poets in the 20th century. Robert Frost was born in San Francisco, nine years after the end of the civil war. After the death of his father in 1885, the family moved to New England, where Robert would grow up spend the rest of his life. He was not a good student, but he took easily to writing. In high school, he graduated as Co-valedictorian with his future wife, Elinor Miriam White. After high school, Frost attended Dartmouth college and held many different odd jobs before he becoming a teacher. Most of Robert frost’s poetry was based in his native New England. He was a realist, which meant that most or all of his poems dealt within the real world. He was more of a traditional writer, although most of his poems are free verse. His poems focused on how or what man was thinking. Much of his poetry included features of the New England landscape. This type of writing was carefully tied together to create not only the surface of the...
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...chose to write about is called “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” Written by Robert Frost. The poem is from the point of view of an old man who has been riding through the woods and stops. It is the middle of the night and he is watching the snow fall as we can plainly see from the lines “He will not see me standing here/to watch the woods fill up with snow” and “between the woods and frozen lake/ the darkest evening of the year.” To me it seems that the idea of this poem is stopping and enjoying little things in life, even things like a snowy wood in the middle of the night. Something so simple could be very beautiful if you take the time to notice it. The poem also seems to give the idea that we can enjoy little things in life but not forget our important obligations. This idea is expressed in the lines “But I have promises to keep/ and miles to go before I sleep/ miles to go before I sleep.” I can’t say I can personally relate to this poem. I do however agree with the idea of it. I think it’s very important to take breaks in life. If someone works to hard and takes everything too seriously they will miss out on little things in life. I enjoy nature and being outside so this poem relates to me in that way. I can easily see myself stopping just like the man in the poem to watch the silent woods for a moment. Things like those woods that can keep a person sane. In this poem Robert Frost uses a very effective rhyme scheme to keep a smooth rhythm. He uses a chain rhyme...
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...“Mending Wall” by Robert Frost The harsh reality of life is that many of us put up walls for no reason other than we were told by someone, or it was passed down from generation to generation without question. We will erect walls around types of people, places, religion, and things without understanding why we even do it. “Mending Wall” by Robert Frost portrays a view that we are seeing today around the world. So many groups of people all walled off from each other, and it does not allow them to become friends or to understand each other’s culture. When the wall comes down, people figure out that all of us want the same things out of life. Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall” is about walls that people set up for no reason whatsoever. Frosty shows quickly that there is something wrong when he begins the point with “something there is that does not love a wall” (563). The poem tells the story of two landowners who appear to be following a tradition that has been passed down from father to son. They never discuss the importance of the wall; however, they meet every year to walk their respective sides of the wall and attempt to repair it. The poem leads the reader to believe that they repair this wall only once a year after each winter. The leakage from either side of the wall is not the entire reason for the task. The speaker goes as far as to say to the stones themselves “stay where you are until our backs are turned” (563); this would lead you to believe that there is no...
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...Sarah Gledhill Tara Aiken English Comp 2 March 25, 2016 The Road Not Traveled Robert Frost uses his poem The Road Not Traveled to highlight the difficulties of indecision through the use of symbolism, metaphors, and vivid imagery. The Road Not Traveled is a compilation of such devices that allude to a person making a decision, standing on the edge of a forked road peering out at two paths and having to choose one of the two. One road leads to a path most take, and can be considered safer, or reliable; the other being “the one less traveled by,” or, essentially, making his own path outside normal expectations. Robert Frost uses these poetic devices to narrate the moment of indecision that has probably plagued us all at one point or another at some time. “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,” begins Frost, as he sets up the setting and theme of the entire poem in just the first sentence. Albeit simple, this single sentence does a lot for the poem, such as indicating to us that a decision needs to be made about which path to take amongst these two roads, while the yellow wood is a powerful descriptor to give us an idea of the setting. The first line speaking of the yellow wood provides us with an idea that it is probably autumn when trees in the wood would begin to turn yellow and die for the winter. The “wood” that is mentioned is a clear symbol for someone’s life, these two paths more than likely being paths the traveler can choose for his own future. Just those...
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...not taken written by Robert Frost in 1916 is one of Frosts most well known poems. The road not taken consists of four stanzas each containing five lines and follows the rhyme scheme ABAAB. Frost used a variety of literary techniques, combined with simple language to make the road not taken so easy to relate to. the road not taken focuses on the narrator who reaches a fork in the road where he must decide on which path to take. the narrator hoses the path that he considers to be less traveled. this poem acts as an extended metaphor for difficult life decisions. From this poem the reader can interpret that frost is trying to convey the message that no matter which decision you make there is always a chance that it is the wrong one. From the last lines of the poem "I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference" the reader can also interpret that Frost is trying to say that making the right decision can have a huge impact on life. For the road not taken Frost was able to have a very large intended audience with the use of simple, easy to understand language and the relevance to everyday life. Frosts intended audience is anyone who has decisions so make but is indecisive about those decisions. The road not taken was written in 1916 shorty after Frost had moved back to America, Frost was 42 at the time. According to Emerson media (n.d.) it is believed that Frost wrote this poem due to regretting a decision made in his life. Frost uses past tense for the...
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...Robert Frost is well known for the use of nature in his poetry to express life and humanity. By writing about nature Frost is able to give more meaning and depth to his audience as well as being able to get his point across. Frost is very popular at joining nature to ordinary human occurrences as well as experiences. Robert Frost has inspired many poets through the use of nature to express his views as well as to make his poetry interesting. Most of Frost’s poems contained nature in some sort of way either through nature imagery, nature through man, metaphors with nature, or nature as a background through human experiences. Majority of Frost poems reflect nature imagery. Frost saw nature as an alien force capable of destroying man, but...
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...Although Robert Frost and F. Scott Fitzgerald are from the same time era and passed away at around the same time, they had many differences in their writing styles. Robert Frost was poetically inclined in his writing ‘The Mending Wall’ which I will be comparing to Fitzgerald’s ‘Winter Dreams’ which is more on the story side of the spectrum. Frost went through a string of jobs before finding his passion in poetry. He became interested in high school, but didn’t pursue a career in it until much later. Fitzgerald was born into a upper middle class family and had always been interested in stories. Both of these artists fell in love with writing during their younger years. Robert Frost was writing his poems around the 19th century and draws his...
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...the life of Robert Frost will be explained along with some of his outstanding poetry. We will discuss who he was, how Frost started in writing his poetry, and how some of his poems relate to what is happening in today's world. Robert Frost was named after the Southern General, Robert E. Lee. He was born on March 26, 1874, in San Francisco, California. Because his parents were a teacher and a journalist, he was always around books. He studied literature from William Shakespeare and poems from Robert Burns and William Wordsworth. Robert excelled in many topics in school such as history, botany, Latin, and Greek. Frost also played football and graduated top of his high school class. Robert Frost started writing poems at an early age. His first poem, “La Noche Triste” was published in his high school newspaper. Frost later enrolled in an Ivy League college in Hanover, New Hampshire. Robert Frost was not fond of the campus life so he quit college and started teaching while he was writing poetry. Frost got his first break as a poet in 1894 when the New York Magazine, “Independent” published his poem, “My Butterfly” for only 15 dollars. Robert Frost later in 1895 married his lifelong sweetheart Elinor Miriam White and had six children together. Robert Frost later entered Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and even though he left because of illness, Harvard University was one of many institutions that would later award him an honorary degree. Robert Frost had to support...
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...Nothing Gold Can Stay (Frost) VS. I Used to Live Here Once (Rhys) Jason W. Miller Ashford University ENG125: Introduction to Literature Professor Patricia Lake December 3, 2012 Death and impermanence is always full of sorrow. I have chosen Death and Impermanence as my theme to discuss, not because of tragedy I’ve experienced, but instead because it’s an interestingly complex theme. “Nothing Gold Can Stay” and “I Used to Live Here Once” could not be no more different in their visual form than they already are; however, they both represent the theme through common emotions and mood of the literary works. Throughout my essay I will explain the relevance of the two works, and authors, as well as the differences. The formalist approach will be my choice of critical analysis of the two works, which will aid in forming my comparison and contrast of both works as well. “The poem of the Robert Frost, “Nothing Gold Can Stay” is discussing the beauty of life’s wonderful but short-lived treasures, as example chasing dreams and spending time with loved ones. It is illustrated by Frost those treasures in the world related to the nature through the use of metaphors, imagery, diction, and allusion. The poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay” helps open one’s eyes to the harsh realities of nature’s path and although we must all succumb to the laws of nature, it is these unbreakable laws that make life so treasured (Shmoop, 2010). On the other side the literature “I Used to Live Here...
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