robert frost essay 500 words

Robert Frost

(1874-1963)

Who Was Robert Frost?

Frost spent his first 40 years as an unknown. He exploded on the scene after returning from England at the beginning of World War I . He died of complications from prostate surgery on January 29, 1963.

Early Years

Frost was born on March 26, 1874, in San Francisco, California. He spent the first 11 years of his life there, until his journalist father, William Prescott Frost Jr., died of tuberculosis.

Following his father's passing, Frost moved with his mother and sister, Jeanie, to the town of Lawrence, Massachusetts. They moved in with his grandparents, and Frost attended Lawrence High School.

After high school, Frost attended Dartmouth College for several months, returning home to work a slew of unfulfilling jobs.

Beginning in 1897, Frost attended Harvard University but had to drop out after two years due to health concerns. He returned to Lawrence to join his wife.

In 1900, Frost moved with his wife and children to a farm in New Hampshire — property that Frost's grandfather had purchased for them—and they attempted to make a life on it for the next 12 years. Though it was a fruitful time for Frost's writing, it was a difficult period in his personal life and followed the deaths of two of his young children.

During that time, Frost and Elinor attempted several endeavors, including poultry farming, all of which were fairly unsuccessful.

Despite such challenges, it was during this time that Frost acclimated himself to rural life. In fact, he grew to depict it quite well, and began setting many of his poems in the countryside.

Frost met his future love and wife, Elinor White, when they were both attending Lawrence High School. She was his co-valedictorian when they graduated in 1892.

In 1894, Frost proposed to White, who was attending St. Lawrence University , but she turned him down because she first wanted to finish school. Frost then decided to leave on a trip to Virginia, and when he returned, he proposed again. By then, White had graduated from college, and she accepted. They married on December 19, 1895.

White died in 1938. Diagnosed with cancer in 1937 and having undergone surgery, she also had had a long history of heart trouble, to which she ultimately succumbed.

Frost and White had six children together. Their first child, Elliot, was born in 1896. Daughter Lesley was born in 1899.

Elliot died of cholera in 1900. After his death, Elinor gave birth to four more children: son Carol (1902), who would commit suicide in 1940; Irma (1903), who later developed mental illness; Marjorie (1905), who died in her late 20s after giving birth; and Elinor (1907), who died just weeks after she was born.

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Early Poetry

In 1894, Frost had his first poem, "My Butterfly: an Elegy," published in The Independent , a weekly literary journal based in New York City .

Two poems, "The Tuft of Flowers" and "The Trial by Existence," were published in 1906. He could not find any publishers who were willing to underwrite his other poems.

In 1912, Frost and Elinor decided to sell the farm in New Hampshire and move the family to England, where they hoped there would be more publishers willing to take a chance on new poets.

Within just a few months, Frost, now 38, found a publisher who would print his first book of poems, A Boy’s Will , followed by North of Boston a year later.

It was at this time that Frost met fellow poets Ezra Pound and Edward Thomas, two men who would affect his life in significant ways. Pound and Thomas were the first to review his work in a favorable light, as well as provide significant encouragement. Frost credited Thomas's long walks over the English landscape as the inspiration for one of his most famous poems, "The Road Not Taken."

Apparently, Thomas's indecision and regret regarding what paths to take inspired Frost's work. The time Frost spent in England was one of the most significant periods in his life, but it was short-lived. Shortly after World War I broke out in August 1914, Frost and Elinor were forced to return to America.

Public Recognition for Frost’s Poetry

When Frost arrived back in America, his reputation had preceded him, and he was well-received by the literary world. His new publisher, Henry Holt, who would remain with him for the rest of his life, had purchased all of the copies of North of Boston . In 1916, he published Frost's Mountain Interval , a collection of other works that he created while in England, including a tribute to Thomas.

Journals such as the Atlantic Monthly , who had turned Frost down when he submitted work earlier, now came calling. Frost famously sent the Atlantic the same poems that they had rejected before his stay in England.

In 1915, Frost and Elinor settled down on a farm that they purchased in Franconia, New Hampshire. There, Frost began a long career as a teacher at several colleges, reciting poetry to eager crowds and writing all the while.

He taught at Dartmouth and the University of Michigan at various times, but his most significant association was with Amherst College , where he taught steadily during the period from 1916 until his wife’s death in 1938. The main library is now named in his honor.

For a period of more than 40 years beginning in 1921, Frost also spent almost every summer and fall at Middlebury College , teaching English on its campus in Ripton, Vermont.

In the late 1950s, Frost, along with Ernest Hemingway and T. S. Eliot , championed the release of his old acquaintance Ezra Pound, who was being held in a federal mental hospital for treason due to his involvement with fascists in Italy during World War II . Pound was released in 1958, after the indictments were dropped.

Famous Poems

Some of Frost’s most well-known poems include:

• “The Road Not Taken”
• “Fire and Ice”
• “Mending Wall”
• “Home Burial”
• “The Death of the Hired Man”
• “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening”
• “Acquainted with the Night”
• “Nothing Gold Can Stay”

Pulitzer Prizes and Awards

During his lifetime, Frost received more than 40 honorary degrees.

In 1924, Frost was awarded his first of four Pulitzer Prizes, for his book New Hampshire . He would subsequently win Pulitzers for Collected Poems (1931), A Further Range (1937) and A Witness Tree (1943).

In 1960, Congress awarded Frost the Congressional Gold Medal.

President John F. Kennedy’s Inauguration

At the age of 86, Frost was honored when asked to write and recite a poem for President John F. Kennedy's 1961 inauguration. His sight now failing, he was not able to see the words in the sunlight and substituted the reading of one of his poems, "The Gift Outright," which he had committed to memory.

Soviet Union Tour

In 1962, Frost visited the Soviet Union on a goodwill tour. However, when he accidentally misrepresented a statement made by Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev following their meeting, he unwittingly undid much of the good intended by his visit.

On January 29, 1963, Frost died from complications related to prostate surgery. He was survived by two of his daughters, Lesley and Irma. His ashes are interred in a family plot in Bennington, Vermont.

QUICK FACTS

• Name: Robert Lee Frost
• Birth Year: 1874
• Birth date: March 26, 1874
• Birth State: California
• Birth City: San Francisco
• Birth Country: United States
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: Robert Frost was an American poet who depicted realistic New England life through language and situations familiar to the common man. He won four Pulitzer Prizes for his work and spoke at John F. Kennedy's 1961 inauguration.
• Fiction and Poetry
• Astrological Sign: Aries
• Harvard University
• Lawrence High School
• Dartmouth College
• Death Year: 1963
• Death date: January 29, 1963
• Death State: Massachusetts
• Death City: Boston
• Death Country: United States

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CITATION INFORMATION

• Article Title: Robert Frost Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/authors-writers/robert-frost
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: December 1, 2021
• Original Published Date: April 2, 2014
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“Fire and Ice” by Robert Frost: Devastating Struggle of Human Emotions Essay

Fire and Ice (1920) is one of Robert Frost’s best-known poems. It metaphorically represents relationships between people, the struggle between the two extremums of human emotions, and its ability to bring the end of the world. The poem meticulously combines formal conciseness and conceptual depth. Thus, Fire and Ice is a remarkable example of the author’s skill to render a profound meaning using a minimum amount of linguistic tools.

The poem is composed of a nine-line stanza with irregular meter and rhyme pattern. The first two lines immediately establish a conflict between fire and ice as two extreme poles of the author’s worldview. Each of these elements is capable of bringing the world to an end: “Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice” (Frost 197). The narrator emphasizes the fundamental opposition between fire and ice through the use of anaphora, that is, the repetition of the phrase “Some say” at the beginning of each of two lines (Frost 197). This conceptual juxtaposition imposes the tone for the rest of the poem and has a decisive role in its metric framework.

In lines 3 and 4, the narrator compares fire to a human passion towards someone or something. The author suggests that one’s strong desires can have a destructive capacity. However, the speaker further introduces another powerful agent. In the last three lines, ice represents human hatred and cruelty. Indeed, cold reasoning also may be a disruptive force with similarly devastating outcomes for the world. Hence, the poem relies on the stylistic device of personification, which implies the endowment of inanimate objects with human traits. In such a way, Fire and Ice provides a vivid and compelling representation of abstract notions.

It is also necessary to observe that the poem’s tone is seemingly casual and relaxed. However, it discusses the serious and fundamental issues of human relationships and world order. This intention is evident in lines 5 and 6: “But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate” (Frost 197). The narrator hints that the world’s demise is inevitable, that he is ready to face it more than once. The speaker also declares that he has already experienced the ugly side of human nature. In such a manner, the poem ensures a more profound effect on its audience. The author deliberately applies a careless tone to attract the reader’s attention to this discrepancy between the form and the content.

Furthermore, the line breaks in Fire and Ice are not accidental and convey a deep meaning. As one can easily observe, the break between the first two lines demonstrates the irreconcilable antagonism between fire and ice. Indeed, these two forces cannot exist within a single space, eventually breaking the poem into pieces. This graphic rupture symbolizes the world’s breakdown as a result of the devastating struggle of human emotions.

The line breaks are also significant for the poem’s conclusion. The last two lines are the shortest ones, consisting only of three words each. This splintered architecture provides the extreme conciseness of the poem’s ending and demonstrates the speaker’s pessimistic prognosis. In other words, the last lines symbolically depict the end of the world, where everything perishes in the struggle of human ambition and hatred.

Thus, Robert Frost’s poem vividly represents human relationships and their destructive potential. The central images of fire and ice symbolize the powerful emotions of passion and hate, and the speaker emphasizes that both of them are equally dangerous and disruptive for the world around us. The narrator admonishes thoughtless obedience to one’s inherent ambitions and aspirations, since it may have tragic consequences for humanity. The formal elements in Fire and Ice effectively contribute to rendering the profound and symbolic meaning of the poem. Hence, the surface means effectively working in tandem with its thoughtful content and ensuring the author’s strong message to the audience.

Frost, Robert. The Collected Poems of Robert Frost. Chartwell Books, 2016.

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IvyPanda. (2022, February 12). "Fire and Ice" by Robert Frost: Devastating Struggle of Human Emotions. https://ivypanda.com/essays/fire-and-ice-by-robert-frost-devastating-struggle-of-human-emotions/

""Fire and Ice" by Robert Frost: Devastating Struggle of Human Emotions." IvyPanda , 12 Feb. 2022, ivypanda.com/essays/fire-and-ice-by-robert-frost-devastating-struggle-of-human-emotions/.

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1. IvyPanda . ""Fire and Ice" by Robert Frost: Devastating Struggle of Human Emotions." February 12, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/fire-and-ice-by-robert-frost-devastating-struggle-of-human-emotions/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . ""Fire and Ice" by Robert Frost: Devastating Struggle of Human Emotions." February 12, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/fire-and-ice-by-robert-frost-devastating-struggle-of-human-emotions/.

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A Summary and Analysis of Robert Frost’s ‘Fire and Ice’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘Fire and Ice’ is one of the best-known and most widely anthologised poems by the American poet Robert Frost (1874-1963). The poem has a symbolic, even allegorical quality to it, which makes more sense when it is analysed in its literary and historical context. Frost wrote ‘Fire and Ice’ in 1920, and it was published in Harper’s Magazine in December of that year.

You can read ‘Fire and Ice’ here before proceeding to our analysis of the poem below.

The elements of fire and ice mentioned in the poem, and foregrounded in its title, are two of the four Aristotelian or classical elements, along with earth and air (although ‘ice’ is usually just described as water, Frost – whose very surname here summons the icy conditions of one half of the poem – is purposely summoning these classical elements).

In summary, ‘Fire and Ice’ is a nine-line poem in which Frost tells us that he has heard some people say that the world will end in fire, while others reckon it will end in ice. In other words, the world will either burn up or freeze up. Frost’s speaker goes on to assert that his own view is that fire is more likely, especially in light of his experiences of desire (which is often linked with fire and heat, e.g. we talk of ‘burning with desire’ for someone).

However, ice comes a close second for him: he’s also experienced enough of the destructive power of cold, icy hatred to see how that might consume the world, too, and be sufficient to destroy it.

We said that fire and ice are perhaps more allegorical than symbolic in Frost’s poem, because rather than leaving these deeply symbolic forces of fire and ice open to speculation and different interpretations, he goes on to link them very specifically to two particular emotions: desire for fire, and hate for ice.

In other words, will humans destroy the world through hating each other so much that we all kill each other? Or will passionate desire actually destroy everything?

In other words, what begins in rather elemental, open-ended terms (perhaps even inviting us to think of global warming, something unknown to Frost, when we read of the world ending in fire) comes to have a distinctly human aspect, grounded in human emotions and behaviour.

What makes ‘Fire and Ice’ such a haunting and even troubling poem is its acknowledgment that desire and passion can be more deadly and destructive than mere hate: hate (‘ice’) may well consume us all through war (we need only look at how religious and political differences can make whole groups of people hate their neighbours), but desire (‘fire’) may prove even more powerful because it can provide the zeal, the irrational belief in something, that will fuel even more destructive behaviour.

Frost wrote ‘Fire and Ice’ in 1920. This is just two years after the end of the First World War, and a time when revolution, apocalypse, and social and political chaos were on many people’s minds. And especially on poets’ minds.

A year earlier, W. B. Yeats had written ‘The Second Coming’, with its famous declaration, ‘ Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold ’, and its assertion that a ‘second coming’ must be ‘at hand’, with some sphinx-like creature slowly making its way towards Bethlehem to be born as a second Christ.

Five years after Frost wrote ‘Fire and Ice’, T. S. Eliot would offer his own version of apocalypse in ‘The Hollow Men’ (1925): ‘ This is the way the world ends ’, he says, famously, ‘Not with a bang but a whimper.’ ‘Fire and Ice’ should be seen in the broader literary context of these ‘apocalyptic’ poems.

‘Fire and Ice’ was supposedly the inspiration for the title of George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire , and lends a curiously apocalyptic meaning to Game of Thrones . Will the world end in fire or ice?

This idea of one world coming to an end and another, potentially, being born, is obviously also an important context for Robert Frost’s poem: the idea of an old world order giving way to a new was ‘in the air’ when he wrote the poem.

About Robert Frost

Robert Frost (1874-1963) is regarded as one of the greatest American poets of the twentieth century. And yet he didn’t belong to any particular movement: unlike his contemporaries William Carlos Williams or Wallace Stevens he was not a modernist, preferring more traditional modes and utilising a more direct and less obscure poetic language.

Many of his poems are about the natural world, with woods and trees featuring prominently in some of his most famous and widely anthologised poems (‘The Road Not Taken’, ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’, ‘Birches’, ‘Tree at My Window’). Elsewhere, he was fond of very short and pithy poetic statements: see ‘Fire and Ice’ and ‘But Outer Space’, for example.

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2 thoughts on “A Summary and Analysis of Robert Frost’s ‘Fire and Ice’”

It is interesting that Eliot wrote his apocalyptic poem five years after with his own spin. Did Frost influence his version?

That’s a good question. It’s difficult to say what Eliot thought of Frost, and how familiar he was with his work, although it is certainly curious that, in the midst of the next war, in ‘Little Gidding’ (1942), Eliot gives us the line ‘This is the death of water and fire.’

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Robert Frost

Robert Frost (Robert Lee Frost) was an American Poet. Before his works were published in America, they were published in England. Frost is known for his accurate description of country life and his grasp on the colloquial speech of America. Frost wrote about the rural life of New England in the early 20 th century. He used the settings of New England to analyze the philosophical and complex social themes.

Frost was admired and honored for his poetry. He is the only poet who received four Pulitzer Prizes in Poetry. He turned out to be one of the rare literary figures of America who was almost an artistic institution. In 1960, he was honored with the Congressional Gold Medal for his poetry. He was named as poet laureate of Vermont on 22 nd July 1961. 

A Short Biography of Robert Frost

Robert Frost was born on 26 th August 1874 to William Prescott, Jr. and Isabelle Moodie Frost. His father, William, was a journalist and was ambitious to make his career in California. He has only one sister Jeanie Frost. In 1885, his father died, and his mother shifted to Lawrence, Massachusetts, with her two children. The children were taken by the paternal grandparents of Robert and grew up in Lawrence, whereas his mother started teaching at different schools in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. In 1892, Robert graduated from high school. He was a top student in the class and shared his valediction honors with his beloved Elinor White.

Both Elinor and Robert shared interest in poetry; however, they were separated as Robert continued his education at Dartmouth College, and Elinor went to St. Lawrence University. The poetic career Robert had started in high school was continued by him. He published his first poem, My Butterfly: An Elegy” in 1894 in a weekly journal, The Independent. Frost left Dartmouth College before the completion of his first year because of the tiring academic routine. 

In 1985, he married Elinor. However, life was difficult, and Robert started teaching and farming to support his family. His fields of career did not meet any notable success. In the following twelve years, they had six children. Two of the children died at an early age. In 1897, Robert resumed his education at Harvard University and left the university after two years. From1900 to 1909, the family started poultry on a farm in New Hampshire; Frost also started teaching at the Pinkerton Academy in Derry. Frost turned into an ambitious botanist and attained his poetic identity of a rural sage of New England during these years. He was writing poetry during the time, but the publishing opening shows that he did not have much interest in it.

Frost was struggling against the discouragement by 1911. For him, poetry was regarded as a game of a young person. Whereas Frost, who was almost 40 years old, could not publish a book and only had published a few handfuls of poems in magazines. In 1911, Frost got ownership of the Derry farm. He made a sudden decision to sell the farm and started a new life in London. To him, the publishers in London were more approachable to new talent than in America. In 1912, Frost, along with his family, moved to England. Frost also took his poems with him that he had written in America but did not publish it. Indeed the publishers of England proved receptive to an innovative verse of Robert Frost. Frost n with his own efforts and help of Ezra pound published his book A Boy’s Will in 1913. His poems “The Tuft of Flowers,” “Mowing,” and “Storm Fear” from the first book were the standard pieces.

In 1914, he published his second collection North of Boston. The collection contained the major and most popular poems of Robert Frost. These poems include “The Death of the Hired Man,” “After Apple-Picking,” “Mending Wall,” and “Home Burial.” In 1914, Anne Lowell, the Boston poet, traveled to England and encountered Frost’s work in the bookstore. She took the books with her to America and launched a campaign to publish it in America. In the meantime, she also started writing a complimentary review of North of Boston.

Frost had achieved great fame without his knowledge. In 1915, Frost returned to America because of World War I. Till that time, the review of Amy Lowell was already published, and everyone was aware of the unusual qualities of Robert Frost. His book North of Boston had been published by Henry Holt Publishers in 1914. It was the best-seller, and when Frost was moving to America, it had already started publishing the American edition of A Boy’s Will. Frost was instantly approached by various magazines to publish his poems.

In 1915, at Franconia, New Hampshire, Frost bought a little farm. However, he was unable to support his family with the income of poetry and farm.  Thus, he started lecturing part-time at Amherst College. From 1916 to 1938, he taught at the University of Michigan. In 1916, he published a new collection of poems, Mountain Interval. The collection continued to be as successful and the previous one. In 1923, he published New Hampshire. This collection received a Pulitzer Prize for poetry. 

His further collection was published in the succeeding years. He published Collected Poem in 1930, Further Range in 1936, and A Witness Tree in 1942. He also published volumes of poetry that includes West-Running Brook in 1928, In Clearing in 1962, and Steeple Blush in 1947. From 1939 to 1943, he served as the Poet-in-residence at Harvard; from 1943 to 1949 at Dartmouth; and from 1949 to 63 at Amherst College. He gathered awards and honors from every year in his last years. He also served as the poetry consultant to the Library of Congress from 1958 to 1959.

In 1962, on a goodwill tour, Frost visited the Soviet Union. However, he, by mistake, altered the statement by Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev after the meeting. The good intended by the visit was unwittingly undone.

On 29 th January 1963, frost faced complications from his prostate surgery and died. He left two daughters, Irma and Lesley. His remains are buried in Bennington, Vermont, in a family plot. 

Robert Frost’s Literary Style

A regional poet.

Robert Frost was living in the region of New England, almost in New Hampshire. He considered it to be one of the two best states in the United States of America; the other was Vermont. He was a poet in his region. He did not include the region of all of America in his poetic scope. However, he also did not attempt to bring regional unity to his characters and also create a Utopian world for them. According to John Lynen, “Frost is the best known to the public as the poet of New England. Like Faulkner, he stands forth as both the interpreter and the representative of his regional culture.”

The setting of New England offered him stories, characters, attitudes that he needed. He loved the tradition of New England and sought strength from it. His works fall in the pastoral literary tradition. His characters, subjects, and events belong to rural New England. He focuses on the ordinary setting and events of rural areas.

Symbolism in Robert Frost’s Poetry

Symbolism is an indirect and veiled mode of communication. Along with the surface meaning, a literary piece also has a deeper meaning, which can only be understood when one reads the poem/literary work through close examination. The poems of Robert Frost have symbolic meaning.

For example, the poem “Mending Wall” apparently suggests that good neighbors are made by good friends. However, the poem symbolically deals with one of the significant problems. It put forwards the question of whether to make the natural boundaries strong to protect ourselves or to remove them as they limit our interaction with other people.

Similarly, the poem “Stopping by Woods” symbolically suggests the struggle of every individual between their social duties towards others with the stresses of our practical life and the moving longing to escape into nature and relax. Moreover, darks woods in the poem that is covered with the snow, and the speaker is greatly attracted to it, symbolizes death. However, the speaker turns down the call of nature (wood) and decides on fulfilling his social obligations. The speaker says:

“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.”

The poem “Stopping by Woods on a snowy evening” has a new sort of symbolism, unlike the outdated traditional pastoral symbolism. The subtly and indirect nature of Frost’s symbolism in the poem is due to its fondness for inference than obvious statements.  It is due to this subtle quality that readers admire Frost’s poetry. Another unique quality in the reading of the poems of Frost is that our surface understanding of the poem does not coincide with deeper meaning. 

 Though the poems or subject matters, Frost’s poetry is complicated. However, clarity in verse veiled the complications and made the poem comprehensible. Even if the poems had nothing but surface meaning, Frost would be admired for his clarity of verse.

Seriousness and Spontaneity in Frost’s Poetry

The whole life of Robert Frost was dedicated to his poetry, which shows his seriousness for his art. But in the initial life, he did not pay much attention to his poetic talent or analyze the source of his poetic gift. This turned the poetry of Frost having unforced, simple, and lyric charm. It appears to be written effortlessly and naturally, just as breathing.

The verse of Robert Frost d stately, formed, and easily anticipated. The technique he employed is simple. He carefully handles the language and rhythm that his most sophisticated poems have spontaneity. Therefore, his ideas seem to be suddenly discovered, not conceived earlier.

Isolation and Loneliness in Robert Frost’s Poetry

One of the important themes of the poetry of Robert Brown is the isolation of man in the universe and his feeling of alienation from nature. The Majority of his poems deal with the feeling of loneliness and sense of isolation. These themes are also influenced by Frost’s personal experiences. Frost’s sister Jeanie has been mentally ill for a long period due to which she became completely alienated from the world. Jeanie was not able to cope with the stiffness and cruelty of existence. For her, the reality of love, birth, and death was conflicting. The ideal world of Jeanie never reconciled with her real world.

In the poem “Home Burial,” the plight of the husband is similar to the plight of Frost in being powerless to deter her sister from the view of the world. The woman in the poem is unable to accept the reality of the situation, just like Jeanie. The woman is unable to reconcile herself to the death of her child and becomes totally alienated from the world.

Similarly, in the poem “An Old Man’s Winter Night” is about an old man roaming alone in the empty house on a winter night and then goes to the store and sleep beside it. The poem efficiently portrays the loneliness of old age and shows deep hostility of life counter to death.

“One Aged Man—-One Man—Can’t Keep A House,

  A Farm, A Countryside, Or If He Can,

  It’s Thus He Does It Of A Winter Night.”

The Portrayal of Characters and Psychoanalysis

Frost’s poems also depict the characters with a psychoanalytical approach. The psychoanalytical approach shows the features of modernism in Frost’s poetry. In these poems, Frost explores the unconscious mind of his characters, although Frost does not seem to be directly influenced by Sigmund Freud. His poetry also focuses on abnormal psychology, dealing with morbid and unconventional behavior of humans. In these poems, the characters are lonely and neurotic. For example, in the poem Home Burial , there is an over-wrought mother who is outrageous in the grief of the death of her child.

Similarly, in “The Death of Hired Man,” the decaying Silas is adhering through carelessness and failure to his need for self-respect. The characters of Robert Frost are full of blood and flesh; he enters into their mind with intense awareness and brings into reality their movements, actions, and speeches with psychoanalytical power.

Narrative and Dramatic Quality of Frost’s poetry

Robert Frost’s poetry is essentially dramatic, no matter what the theme is. He dramatizes his poetry for his readers by creating full scenes of situations and a realistic atmosphere. The dramatic quality is at the peak in the poem at denouement when the fact of the world in the poem attains its metaphysical significance.

For example, in the poem “Home Burial” and “The Death of Hired Man” characters, scenes, and dialogues are shown with full narrative skills like a stage drama.

Fancy and Fact in Frost’s Poetry

The poetry of Robert Frost is beautifully blended of fancy and fact. He inculcates everything in his observation. In the poem “Stopping by Woods,” Frost blends the fancy and facts through the feeling of enjoying the scene of beautiful wood and trying to escape from reality. The speaker is captivated in a lovely scene, but at the same time, he realizes his social obligations of the real and practical life.

Conversational and colloquial Style of Robert Frost

Robert Frost mastered the colloquial and conversational style. He uses sober, quire, and bewitching sort of words. His dialogues are homely, such as in Poem “Home Burial” and “Death of The Hired Man.” His poetry has actual speech rhythm and employed it with mastery. One of his distinguishing features includes the movement of blank verse. The diction he uses is also simple and colloquial. Just like Wordsworth, he employed the language really used by the common man.

Poet of Nature

One of the dominant subjects of Frost’s poetry is Nature; however, he is not nature-poet like that of Thomas Hardy and Wordsworth. His poetry focuses on a man in nature, whereas the poetry of Wordsworth deals with the prospect of the natural world. He perceives no infusing essence in the natural objective and hardhearted. For Frost, nature provides comfort as well as a threat. 

Philosophy, Moral Didacticism, and Aphorism

The wisdom that develops by tolerance, understanding, and observation is preferred by Frost. He is a philosophical poet, and his philosophical value lies in the incentive of intelligence which assists human actions in everyday life. The main characteristics of Frost’s poetry are: it is philosophical, didactic, and aphoristic. The aphoristic verses in the poem provide philosophical and didactic quality. The Following are the examples of his aphoristic lines from different poems.

“A Home is a place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in” from the poem “Death of Hired Man.”

“Something there is that doesn’t love a wall” From the poem “Mending Wall.”

“Earth’s right place for love

I do not know where it’s likely to go better ” From the poem “Birches.”

“But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep” from the poem “Stopping by Wood.”

Though the poems of Frost have a moral purpose, however, the moral lesson is given through either an argument moving the lyric or in a dramatic situation. The moral lesson is not explicit and obvious. Similarly, he deals with the notions of life, birth, truth, and death to make his poem philosophical.

Lyrical Quality

In his poetry, Frost employs the oldest way to make a new and distinctive lyrical form of poetry. Musicality is an essential feature of a lyrical poem, and musicality in the verses is achieved by rhyme, meter, and traditional patterns of stanzas. Frost’s main reputation is based on the lyrical quality of his poetry. For example, in the poem “Stopping by Wood” and “The Road Not Taken” is full of lyricism. In his poetry, Frost not only renews the subject of lyricism in poetry but also brought originality and astonishing sophistication to it. Frost focuses much on the tune and sound of his poem.

Fusion or Integration in Frost’s Poetry

In Frost’s poetry, heterogeneous ideas and elements are fused together in a single independent unit. The main problem is to achieve fusion and integration. Once the integration is achieved, wonder, mystery, and magic are observed in the poetry. According to Frost, a variety of poetry lies not in its uniqueness of form but in the uniqueness of its subject matter. The two ideas fused together in a poem may be difficult to separate from each other. In Frost, poetry, two different subjects are happily united, not forcefully.

Metaphysical Elements in Frost’s Poetry

Just Emerson and Emily Dickenson, Frost is also a metaphysical poet. His metaphysical quality permits him to see beyond the ordinary. Throughout the poems of Frost, like other great metaphysical poems, there is an increased tension created between the simple feet and the mystery revolving around it. The conflict is resolved at the end of the poem with a moral lesson. 

The Irony in Robert Frost’s Poetry

In “Two Ways of Looking at Robert Frost, Randel Jarrell writes: “At its best, Frost’s irony is the sharpest of poetic weapons; at its worst, it is the forgivable pun of a wise old duffer.”

There are two personalities of Robert Frost. The one that everyone knows and the one nobody really knows it or talks about it. The personality of Frost that everyone knows is the one who writes poetry with good puns, and these puns are easily understood by the common readers. For academic writers, the easy side is very attractive, and it is this side that the other personality of the poet is neglected. Similarly, the poetry of Frost has two sides: simple and ironic. The irony is hardly understood by anyone. 

Works Of Robert Frost

• The Road Not Taken
• Mending Wall

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Essay, Biography or Paragraph on “Robert Frost” great author complete biography for Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.

Robert Frost

(1874 – 1963)

Robert Frost was one of the finest of rural New England’s 20th century pastoral poets. Frost published his first books in Great Britain in the 1910s, but he soon became in his own country the most read and constantly anthologised poet. Frost was awarded the Pulitzer Prize four times. He was born in San Francisco, California on March 26, 1874. His father, a journalist and local politician, died when Frost was eleven years old. His Scottish mother resumed her career as a schoolteacher to support her family. The family hired in Lawrence, Massachusetts, with Frost’s paternal grandfather. In 1892 Frost graduated from a high-school and attended Dartmouth College for a few months. Over the next ten years he held a number of jobs. In 1 dent published Frost’s poem My Butte the New York Independent he had five poems privately printed. In 1895 he married a former schoolmate, Elinor White. Frost worked as a teacher and continued to write and publish his poems in magazines. From 1897 to 1899 Frost studied t Harvard, but left without receiving, a degree. He moved to Derry, New Hampshire, working there as a cobbler, farmer, and teacher at Pinkerton Academy and at the state normal school, in Plymouth.

In 1912 Frost published his first collection of poems, A Bay’s Will (1913) followed by North Boston (1914) , which gained international  reputation. The collection contains some of Frosts best known poems: Mending Wall, The Death of the Hired Man, Home Burial, After Apple-Picking, and The Mod-Pile. He taught later at Amherst’ College (1916-38) and Michigan universities. In 1916 Frost was made a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters. In the same year appeared his third collection of verse, Mountain Interval. His wife died in 1938 and he lost four of his children. Frost also suffered from depression and continual self-doubt. After the death of his wife, Frost became strongly attracted to Kay Morrison, whom he employed as his secretary and adviser. Frost composed for her one of his finest love. poems, A Witness Tree. Frost participated in the inauguration of President John Kennedy in 1961 by reciting two of his poems. He travelled in 1962 to Soviet Union as a member .of a goodwill group. Over the years he received a remarkable number of literary and academic honours.

At the time of his death on January 29, 1963, Frost was regarded as a kind of unofficial poet laureate of the United States.

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Robert Frost: 'In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.'

In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.

Life is a journey filled with ups and downs, triumphs and challenges. In his famous quote, Robert Frost simplifies this complex experience by stating, "In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on." These profound words carry a deep meaning, reminding us that no matter what trials we face, life continues to march forward. Despite its straightforward nature, this quote encapsulates the essence of resilience and the inevitability of change.Frost's concise observation highlights the power of acceptance and adaptation. Life, with all its unpredictability, forces us to confront obstacles and make choices. It urges us to endure, to persevere, and to embrace change in order to continue on our journey. The quote serves as a reminder that no matter how difficult our circumstances may seem, we must recognize that time will not stand still and that we have the power to shape our own destinies.However, beneath the surface of this straightforward statement lies an unexpected philosophical concept that brings a new layer of depth to the quote. The idea of life simply "going on" raises questions about the nature of existence and the purpose of our individual lives. While Frost's words provide a sense of comfort, they also prompt us to contemplate the significance of our actions, choices, and experiences.When we compare and contrast the straightforward interpretation of "life goes on" with the philosophical concept it unveils, we find a fascinating dichotomy. On one hand, we have the practical understanding that life continues despite hardships. This notion encourages resilience and reminds us that resilience is at the core of our humanity. We can find solace in the fact that even in our darkest moments, life has a way of progressing, offering us new beginnings and opportunities for growth.On the other hand, the philosophical concept underlying this quote propels us to dig deeper into the nature of existence. It invites us to contemplate the purpose of our journey and our individual meaning within the larger tapestry of life. Does life simply go on as an impersonal force, indifferent to our desires and struggles? Or is our existence shaped by our choices, making us active participants in the continuation and evolution of life itself?This unexpected dichotomy provokes introspection and highlights the complex nature of human existence. It challenges us to find a balance between surrendering to life's inevitable flow while also actively shaping our own paths. It reminds us that even though life may "go on," we are not helpless spectators but rather active participants, capable of making profound impacts on ourselves and the world around us.In conclusion, Robert Frost's quote, "In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on," is a powerful and thought-provoking statement. On the surface, it reminds us of the importance of resilience and adaptability in the face of life's challenges. Yet, when examined more closely, it uncovers a deeper philosophical concept that urges us to reflect on the purpose and significance of our journey. Life may go on, but it is up to each of us to find our own meaning, make choices that align with our values, and embrace the ongoing nature of existence.

Oprah Winfrey: 'My philosophy is that not only are you responsible for your life, but doing the best at this moment puts you I the best place for the next moment.'

Rob walton: 'the thing about american politics, as i've learned, is there is no choice.'.

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• Out, Out. by Robert Frost

Out, Out. by Robert Frost - Essay Example

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• Pages: 2 (500 words)
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Extract of sample "Out, Out. by Robert Frost"

The Snuffing of a Brief Candle in “Out, Out” Robert Frost’s poem “Out, Out” is structured as a short narrative poem. In a mere thirty-two lines, it depicts the tragic death of a young boy at the hands of a chainsaw. The narrator—who we presume to be the poet himself—tells the boy’s story with a sense of mourning. The poem ends with the witnesses to the death merely going about their business afterward, “since they/Were not the one dead” (Frost, 31-32). Frost uses the poem both to make a statement about the preciousness of life, indicating that the reaction to the child’s death is callous, and also to memorialize the boy, whose short, innocent life was nonetheless as important and meaningful as every human being’s life.

The title of the poem, “Out, Out,” is derived from a line in William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth: “Out, out, brief candle!” (Shakespeare, 1993, 5.5.23), spoken by Macbeth upon hearing the news of his wife’s death. Frost’s use of the phrase as his title seems to be ironic. In the play, Macbeth laments his wife’s passing and reflects that life is ultimately meaningless: “it is a tale/Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,/Signifying nothing” (Shakespeare, 1993, 5.5.26-28).

But Frost does not agree that life has no meaning. He uses the poem as a way to record the boy’s existence, to show that even though his candle has been snuffed way too soon, his life was still significant. The poem begins just before the tragedy occurs, and sets the tone from the first line. Frost uses personification to describe the chainsaw as it “snarled and rattled in the yard” (1). This line foreshadows the upcoming accident, but it is important to note that Frost does not depict the tragedy as an accident—he instead frames it as a deliberate act of malice on the part of the saw.

The inanimate saw is given life through Frost’s words—he describes it as deliberately turning on the boy, “[a]s if it meant to prove saws know what supper meant” (15). The poet claims that the saw “leaped” (Frost 16) at the boy, painting the usually lifeless object as a living weapon. In this way, the saw becomes the antagonist of the poem, leading to the destruction of the unwitting protagonist. There is a sense of irony to the setting of the poem as well, as Frost initially describes the scene as being somewhat idyllic.

The buzzed wood is alliteratively labeled “[s]weet-scented stuff” (Frost 3), and the backdrop is framed by a series of mountain ranges stretching “[u]nder the sunset far into Vermont” (Frost 6). The workday, which had gone by without incident as “nothing happened” (Frost 9), is almost done. When reading these lines, the reader almost forgets the sense of foreboding elicited by the first line. Frost lulls the reader into a sense of security that is quickly dashed when blood is shed soon after.

When the boy dies at the end of the poem, the witnesses are at first disbelieving: “No one believed. They listened to his heart./Little—less—nothing!—and that ended it” (Frost 29-30). But as soon as they realize there is nothing left for them to do for the boy, the witnesses to the death “turned to their affairs” (Frost 32). This indicates that the onlookers probably went back to practical affairs, finishing up the day’s work and taking care of their all-too-human needs, like supper.

In a sense, the people are doing what they must to survive and continue their way of life. But the tone of these final lines indicates that Frost sees this behavior as being heartless and inconsiderate of the life that has just been lost: of course they could continue on with their lives, since they were not the ones lying immobile on the ground! In “Out, Out,” Robert Frost tells a definitive, sad story of a young man’s unfortunate death. The story of the poem is ultimately about the loss of innocence: the boy loses his life while “[d]oing a man’s work, though a child at heart” (Frost 22), compounding the tragedy of his early death.

By narrating the boy’s inopportune passing, Frost permanently memorializes the boy’s story in print, thus highlighting the importance of the young man’s brief life—and, by extension, the importance of every human life, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant. Works Cited Frost, R. Shakespeare, W. (1993). Macbeth. In The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Retrieved April 25, 2011, from http://shakespeare.mit.edu/macbeth/index.html

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Instances of classical american poetry and its initial impression, robert frosts out, out as commentary on life, robert frost and romanticism, the concept of american poetry, mending wall by robert frost, robert frost: the dark side, robert frost, theme of suffering in the poems disabled by wilfred owen and out, out by robert frost.

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