Poetry Study

By: Caitlin Walker

The History Of Robert FrostThe History Of Robert Frost Robert Frost was born March 26th, 1874 in San Francisco, California. Both his father and mother held excellent occupations; his mother being a school teacher and his father was a journalist/local politician. In 1885 an eleven year old Frost was forced to move to Lawrence, Massachusetts as his father died of tuberculosis.

Frost attended Dartmouth University in 1893, and he switched to Harvard in 1897, only staying for two years. After dropping out of Harvard not receiving his degree, he moved to New Hampshire to work as a farmer and teach at Pinkerton Academy in Plymouth. Also during this time he married his schoolmate Elinor White in 1895, and published his first poem “My Butterfly”, in the New York Independent, in 1894.

In 1912 Frost sold his paternal grandfather’s farm so he could continue writing poetry. With the proceeds from the farm Frost moved his family of six children to England. In England he published his 1st collection of poems, including a Boy’s Will, Mending Wall, Home Burial, and The Wood Pile.

In 1915 the proceeds from North Of Boston, were able to buy Frost’s family a home in Franconia, New Hampshire. He taught at Amherst College from 1916-1939 and Michigan Universities. In 1916 he was apart of the National Institute of Arts and Letters, and in 1920 he purchased a farm in South Shaftsbury, Vermont. In 1924 he also won the Pulitzer Prize (which he received four times), for his poetry of New Hampshire.

The next couple of years would be the hardest for Frost. His wife died in 1938, from a heart attack. His daughter Marjorie's died after giving birth, his daughter committed suicide in 1940, and his other daughter Imma suffered from mental disorders and was institutionalized. During this time Frost suffered from self doubt and depression. Some of his poems including “Never Again Would Bird’s Song Be The Same” and, “ I Could Give All To Time”, were written during this dark time.

After his wife died he became attracted to his secretary Kay Morrison. He wrote her the poems collected from “Witness Tree”.

In 1962 Frost participated in invigoration of President JFK in 1961, where he recited two of his poems. In 1962 he traveled on a goodwill group for the Soviet Union. On January 29th, 1963 he suffered from a heart attack during a prostate operation, he was 88 years old when he died. Frost was buried in Vermont where he laid to rest his first son, and wife years before.

Frost can be noted for his numerous poems, and awards. His poetry reflects on his experiences in New Hampshire, nature, his childhood, and his experiences with many deaths in his family.

                         

                  

Two roads diverged in a yellow woodAnd sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fairAnd having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

A Road Not Taken

Literary Criticism: A Road Not TakenLiterary Criticism :

Lawrence Thompson has argued that it is a slightly mocking satire on a perennially hesitant walking partner of Frost's who always wondered what would have happened if he had chosen their path differently.

My Personal Response : I can see where Thompson argued the theory of another travel being among Frost, as in a Road Not Taken it reads, “And be one traveler, long I stood”. Although it may suggest that another person is with Frost in the poem, I think Lawrence Thompson misinterpreted the meaning of the poem . Frost came to a diverged road in the woods, and could not choose what road to take. After debating what route to follow he decided to take the less traveled grassy route, even though the route he chose appears the same as the other path. This represents the decisions we have to make in life. We all reach a “fork in the road”, where we must decide to follow one way or another. I think the poem was written to represent the point in a person’s life when we are forced to make a decision which will determine our future, and the fork in the road was a metaphor for the choices we make in our lives.

At the end of the poem when Frost writes, “I shall be telling this with a sigh, Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-- I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.”, means that when we finalize our decision, sometimes we are left with a feeling of remorse, wondering if our choice was correctly made, questioning ourselves with what could have been.

“I shall be telling this with a sigh”, symbolized to me Frost’s disappointment, wondering what could have been if he had followed the other route. It said that no matter what path is selected, we will never be completely satisfied, not knowing where the other path could have taken us.

Frost could have wrote this poem out of many experiences in his life. What could have been if he just remained in England, if he could have done something differently as a parent for his children, or even just wondering if path he chose in life was best suited for him.

We can be completely satisfied with our lives, and where the path we have chosen has taken us, but we will always wonder if something more could have been, by another decision.. This poem demonstrates how one decision we make can alter the rest of our lives, and suggests will we live with the choices we make today. (Somewhere ages and ages hence).

“ To Earthward”

To Earthward

LOVE at the lips was touchAs sweet as I could bear;And once that seemed too much;I lived on airThat crossed me from sweet things,The flow of- was it muskFrom hidden grapevine springsDown hill at dusk?I had the swirl and acheFrom sprays of honeysuckleThat when they're gathered shakeDew on the knuckle.I craved strong sweets, but thoseSeemed strong when I was young;The petal of the roseIt was that stung.Now no joy but lacks saltThat is not dashed with painAnd weariness and fault;I crave the stainOf tears, the aftermarkOf almost too much love,The sweet of bitter barkAnd burning clove.When stiff and sore and scarredI take away my handFrom leaning on it hardIn grass and sand,The hurt is not enough:I long for weight and strengthTo feel the earth as roughTo all my length.

To Earthward was one of my favorite Robert Frost poems that I read. To Earthward tells the story of a relationship, particularly a first love, and looking back on the relationship realizing that you would do anything to experience those feelings again.

I think Robert Frost is writing about a first love, as the poem is written to make it seem although Frost was a teenager. The way he describes the first stanza it seems like it was his first kiss, or perhaps his first kiss with someone which he loves. The sentence “I lived on air”, reminded me of the “butterflies”, you get when you are in your first relationship, and how everything around you seems surreal. Frost describes this feeling with “I lived on air”, and in the sentence “The flow of- was it musk”. Frost furthers the surreal ness of love by describing “I had the swirl and ache”, swirl meaning the dancing feeling which comes with love.

The poem then changes as Frost is now an older man. He describes the feelings he had when he was young, but now that he is older, he does not feel the same way. This describes a relationship that once had sparks, but is not the same due to time. Frost’s longing for the love he once had, is obvious to in the sentence describing when he can no longer feel the prick of a rose. This shows the devastation that comes with the end of a relationship knowing you must part. This line suggests he is so hurt that even the most painful experience cannot be hurt him. The same message is also displayed at the end of the poem, when Frost says that the pain from leaving your hand on a hard ground, is not enough.

“I crave the strain, the tears, the aftermark, Of almost too much love”, means that he wishes to have the tears of after a quarrel, or even someone to cry to. The last paragraph says that until Frost is with his love, that nothing painful in this world is a comparison to the pain he has already felt.

This poem reflects on a past relationship, and how he misses that time in his life. It also seems to tell a story of when you are young, you have no worries, but then when you get older you are faced with more obstacles, and hardships. I think Frost is saying that he wishes he could go back to the time in his life, where he felt as if he was floating on air, and he had aches and swirls from love. He says that things which use to bother him (like the prick of the rose), no longer hurts him anymore as he realizes, there are worse outcomes in life.

When we get older the “little things” that would have made us upset, no longer affect us. We learn that life comes with challenging times, and there could be worse outcomes.

After I read this poem, I immediately liked it. It described the feeling you get when you a in a relationship with someone you care about, how it ended, and that you would do anything to be at the time in your life again. This poem was sad, but a reality of how all good things come to an end. I also liked the poem as I thought the prick of a rose verse, was used to say that points in my life that bothered me then, don’t hurt me now. It showed that he was stronger from his past, but also he was hurt, as nothing could hurt him anymore then he already was.

This poem, could have various meanings depending on who reads it. That is what I enjoy about Robert Frost’s poetry, whoever reads his poems can relate to a few of them, that is why Frost has such a exponential number of fans.

What I Found Challenging & Aesthetically Appealing…

– In Robert Frost’s poetry you can never read it for the first time, and be satisfied with the meaning behind the poem. It may seem simple behind the comparisons to nature, but there are deeper meanings behind the simple comparisons used in Frost’s poetry.

– When reading Frost’s poems, one feels relaxed; after reading about a snowy village, or picking apples, but as you read on the poem is written with deep thought, using sometimes “fluffy” comparisons to let you in depth poem.

– I enjoy how Frost paints a picture for a reader, describing the scene to make you feel as if you are there. There has not been a poem that I did not read of his, that I could not visualize my surroundings, and smell the flower, or see the forest.

– A lot of the time I found myself going back, reading the poem over and over to dig for the meaning. I his work was most challenging in his shorter poems, when poetry is longer you can read more, to put together more evidence, and when the poems are shorter you have less facts to base your thoughts on.

– I think Robert Frost is an extremely clever man. I love how he compares simple parts of nature, to life. He makes things that seem to have no importance, tell a moral, or a story. Like in “Nothing Can Stay Gold”, he compares the changing of a flower to how all perfect things in life come to an end, how you can be having a great day, and how things can turn for the worst within moments.

You also obtain an understanding of the hardships Robert Frost has endured over the years. With his children passing away, and his wife dying, you can see in some of his work the depression he suffered.

In “Never Again Would A Bird’s Song Be the Same”, I thought it was written as a poem dedicated to his wife. Meaning that even though she was not physically with him, he would always hear her voice with the birds. Frost was comparing his wife to song, and he would feel her in the bird’s song.

His poetry also showed his love for nature, his questioning of his past decisions, and his childhood.

What I find most interesting about Robert Frost is the meaning behind his poems, some of his poems are very dark, and deep, it makes me want to know more about his past, what his thoughts were as a child, and as a man. He had a very interesting life, and it shows through his work. If had not experienced the hardships in his life, I do not think his work would be what it is today, some of the greatest writers are famous because they have a story to tell, this is what makes Robert Frost an excellent poet.

Like A Child

The way he smiled,Was instant blissI felt like a child,After thisDays are not so long,I love the flowers in May,I’m always dancing to a song,Because you made me this way.

Comparison To Dust of Snow

The way a crowShook down on meThe dust of snow From A Hemlock TreeHas given my heartA Change of MoodAnd saved some partOf a day I had rued.

I feel my poem Like A Child, is similar to Robert Frost’s Poem, as it follows the same rhyme pattern of ABAB, it is similar in length, and it has the same meaning on a person having a change in heart about something.

My poem is talking about a person changing my outlook, and in Frost’s poem it was the crow, that shook snow on him.

Both poems display how little things, like a crow or a smile can change your day.

Bibliography• Lynen, J. F. (1960).The Pastoral Art Of Robert Frost. New Haven,

CT: Yale University Press. Retrieved December 6. 2005 from the World Wide Web: http://www.frostfriends.org/place.html

• Bengtsson, G. (2000).Biograpgy of Robert Frost. Grolier Electronic Publishing. Retrieved December 6. 2005 from the World Wide Web: http://www.americanpoems.com/poets.robertfrost

• Tripathi Mehta, S., & Banerjee A. (2000).Spotlight. Retrieved December 9. 2005 from the World Wide Web: http://www.frost.freehosting.net/

• PoemHunter. (2005).RobertFrost. Retrieved December 12. 2005 from the World Wide Web: http://www.poemhunter.com