Robert Frost's Poems

Robert Frost (1874-1963)

      Robert Frost was an American poet. As compared to Wordsworth’s nature, his nature is more danger and wild. He compared the nature with human nature. He talks about the things in more philosophical way. His extra ordinary poems are:

     Stopping by Woods in a Snowy Evening (1923)

     Fire and Ice (1923)

     The Gift Outright (1941)

     Design (1922)

     Mending Wall (1914)

     Home Burial (1914)

1           Stopping by Woods in a Snowy Evening:

        This poem is about the speaker and his dilemma. Speaker highly impressed by the woods in a snowy evening and he wants to stay. However he has some responsibilities and he must fulfill it. It is also considered as philosophical poem through this outstanding stanza:

“The woods are lovely, dark and deep

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep

And miles to go before I sleep.’’

        Speaker highly impressed by the woods. So, he wants to stay there. It is his personal wish. Speaker tries to search himself in that charming atmosphere. He thinks about himself that-

Who am i?

Why am I here?

       These are the questions disturbed speaker. Speaker is in dilemma with the very basic existential questions about the life.

 

        After a few minutes speaker comes to know about the responsibilities that he has. He has some promises with is family, relatives, and with society in which he live. As Camus- existential thinker insisted that those people who doesn’t wants to carry the responsibilities they hide themselves under the mask of religion. So, here speaker is more rational than emotional.

Fire and Ice

        Fire and Ice – the nine lines poem published in the year 1923. At the very beginning poet used the word “some” instead of “I” and “am”. It shows that poet talks about the general idea of human being that how world will end. The world will end with two elements like: Fire and Ice. Poet uses Fire and Ice in more metaphorical way. Such as Fire has an emotion of passion and desire. And Ice has an emotion of hatred and Jealousy.

    Fire and Ice both of them are capable to destroy the world. These two elements applied in a metaphorical way viz,

 “Othello’’:

The tragedy of this drama happens because of the jealousy and hatred- the two emotions of Ice.

“Dr. Faustus’’:

The fallen down of Dr. Faustus happens out of the emotion of fire- Passion and desire. He wants to become the most knowledgeable person in the world. It is leads towards his tragedy.

“Mahabharata”:

The fallen down of great reign of Hastinapura out of these two elements fire and ice.

The Gift Outright

        “The Gift Outright’’ depends on Patriotic Feelings.

“She was our land more than a hundred years’’

        The poem starts with the important aspects of human being is possessive nature. “Ours” and “Others” are the two opposite direction, which are never connected people together. America got freedom from Europe after a long time struggle.

         American people lost their identities, because the invasions of European reign. But American people gave commitment that they will possess their land from the hand of European. They are successful in this act. They got their gift of identity. And their commitment is outright. American becomes the Owners of the land but the important thing is that nothing can be getting without sacrificing.

“The deed of gift was many deeds of war.’’

       The poem is not only about the commitment but it’s also about the revolutionary act of war. Many people sacrificed their life to got freedom. But ultimately the gift of identity as American is outright. Moreover, Frost’s focus not on the conflict between colonist but his focus on the clash between “Old World” and “New World”.

      The European world, believe in tradition and oppression. While American, believe in freedom and destiny. So there was clash between believes of the two world. But the important thing is the memory. People cannot easily forget those who sacrificed their life.

“Design”

      Frost made very simple set-up of this poem at the very beginning. One big white spider on a white flower, poised to eat a white moth. Speaker sees all together for some awful reason. Behind it there must be some pretty dark design, which brought these all together.

So, speaker leads towards series of questions like-

Why is this flower white?

Is circumstances design by God?

Who brought these three together?

   So, speaker is in dilemma. Poem end with the word “IF”-

“If design govern in a thing so small.”

     If design govern in a thing so small.  What about the design of universe, and about the destiny of human beings. In everything there is design. If we seemed the whole Mahabharata, we come to know that everything happens in sequence (chain). If only one sequence not happened maybe there wasn’t happen Mahabharata. But there was a big hurdle of the word IF. For Example- If Dropadi        not utter that sentence-

 “Anthe Ka Putra Antha”.

Second example:

The Movie Final Destination-

       Everything happens in chain. So if chain is broken, they should break the turn of death sequence. But it’s not happen, because everything is in design.

So, question aroused in our mind is that-

How far our destiny controlled by God/ or…?

“Mending Wall”

   “Mending Wall”, this poem published in the year 1914. It is about the two neighbor who believe in-

“Good fences make good neighbors.”

There is also someone who doesn’t like the wall.

“Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.”

      Poet maybe talks about the nature and animals, because they haven’t any kind of boundaries. At the general level he talks about the war and the effect of war on people.

“Home Burial”

     This Poem published in the year 1914. “Home Burial” covers three characters such as:

•       Farmer
•        His wife
•        Their child (who recently died)

      Moreover poet talks about philosophy of human life in this poem. The poem deals with two tragedies like:

•          Death of child
•          Death of marriage

     The setting of this poem clearly shows the distance between the life of husband and wife. The wife stands at the top of the stairs. While the husband stands at the bottom of the stairs, looking up at her. She is in grief because her child died. The husband knows the natural cycle of life because he is farmer. He thinks more rationally. This thing totally misunderstood by his wife, because she thinks about her child more emotionally. Moreover their communication also shows the death of their marriage life. Now home becomes just like graveyard because of the death of child and second the death of marriage life.