Critical Analysis of Robert Frost

Benjamin Swan Prof. Bittenb remnanter ENG208W Studies in rime 04/14/13 hoarfrosts Metaphoric exercising of the Natural benevolentkind in Poetry Born in San Francisco in the spring of 1874, Robert icing the puck is considered to be amongst, if not solely, the sterling(prenominal) poets in American history. Around betterride eleven, Frost moved to invigorated England where the majority of his poetical inspiration is presumptively drawn from. Although he never managed to obtain a collegiate degree, he did attend twain Dartmouth and Harvard, two of the countries most prestigious universities.Publishing his first metrical composition empower My Butterfly in 1894, Frost began his career as a poet just as the modernist literature movement of the early twentieth blow was gaining traction in the United States. Although Frost did not break from poetic convention as radically as some of his peers in the modernist movement, he is nevertheless considered a modernist poet in part du e to the use of the New England vernacular that is present in the majority of his poetry.Another act upon on Frosts work as a poet comes from New England as advantageously this is the influence of growing up in New Englands fontive landscape and the life he led on a grow there. Frosts love for the inwrought and tendency towards including it in his piece is possibly the most distinguishable constant in his work. The following ac sack outledgment best describes this constant in his work, As Frost portrays him, man big businessman be alone in an ultimately in antithetical universe, but he may nevertheless look to the natural world for fictions of his own condition. (The Poetry Foundation).The purpose of this paper will be to explore the some of the pieces in which Frosts use of constitution as a metaphor or simile for the human condition, as well as identifying the radical that the human race is alone in the vast universe where it occurs. by chance the best example of thi s repeat written report and Frosts use of nature as a metaphor can be found in his meter Nothing Gold Can Stay. In this piece, natures vary from spring to summer is a metaphor for the loss of white in the world. Frost points to the fact that the world started out innocent when he opens by saying Natures first green is gold (Line 1).He glorifies our pureness by comparing it to the beauty of tree with golden buds just earlier they bloom. This observation and metaphor is true to the human condition as well, as we are born innocent. He continues on to describe how this doesnt give way for very long though when he says, Then twitch subsides to leaf (5). He then makes an allusion to the Bible about this loss of innocence in the following line, So Eden sank to grief, (6). As for the recurring ascendent, at the end of the numbers man is left alone in the universe, stripped of innocence and disconnected from God.Another prime example of the recurring theme and frosts use of natur e to illustrate his point can be found in his poem entitled cease Places. In this poem the theme is clearly the retirement and isolation felt by Frost. He uses nighttimefall during winter in the forests as a metaphor for loneliness. His description and figurative diction paint a picture of the most lonely and isolated break done imaginable, a wintry abdicate place. From here he lets the endorser know that this place will only get more lonely in the first place when he says Will be more lonely ere it will be less (10).After painting this picture of the most lonely place the reader can imagine, Frost concludes by saying that I pitch it in me so much nearer home To scare myself with my own desert places. (15, 16). This is where the recurring theme fits in Frost internally is more touch on about his human condition where he finds himself alone in a vast universe that is deaf(p) to his existence. The entire poem sets up the tar of these last two lines so that the reader c an understand the substance of this theme to his life.The next poem examined is entitled Stopping by timberwind on a Snowy Evening. Although Frost does use nature as a metaphor for the human condition in this poem, its theme is in stark contrast to the one found in renounce Places. In this poem, the woods in winter are a metaphor for isolation and solitude rather than loneliness. This could be for a couple of different reasons perhaps it is the fact the speaker has the companionship of his horse. Either way, the poem begins in the woods as the speaker thinks back to civilization and the man whose piazza he is on. He notes that it is an nusual place to stop in the middle of the night since it serves no practical purpose and that his horse must think it uncommon (5). From here the speaker makes the observation that The woods are lovely, dark and deep, and takes a brief moment to enjoy the beauty, isolation, and solitude they offer before carrying on about his business (13). In contrast to the theme in Desert Places Frost appears to have found peace with the human condition in universe alone in the woods that hold the vast and indifferent universe. Another poem that contains just one of the two constants being examined is entitled Birches. In this poem Frost observes birch trees that have been permanently bent from the weight of winter snow and ice, this observation makes him nostalgic for the geezerhood he used to swing from the branches of these trees as a boy. He recalls being playing as carefree boy and the birch trees bring to pass a metaphor for his childhood innocence that he longs to have back. show up the end of the poem Frost writes, Its when Im fall apart of considerations, And life is too much want a pathless wood (44, 45) that he feels the most nostalgic for his carefree childhood.This statement makes the pathless wood a metaphor for the trials of adulthood that are like cobwebs and twigs that poke you in the eye in untamed woods (45) . He longs to escape the truthfulness of trials and this can be seen in the line stating Id like to get away from earth awhile (48). Although the recurring theme of the being alone in the vast universe does not present itself in this poem, the constant of nature as a metaphor can be found again in this piece.The final poem that this paper will examine Frosts use of nature as a metaphor and the recurring theme of the human condition is entitled Out Out. In this poem Frost takes the reader to a logging community where the days work is coming to end. In this setting, nature is a metaphor for both the livelihood and mortality of a young man/older boy working with a chainsaw at a logging populate to make firewood. Frost paints the picture of beautiful landscape off of which the subject is making a living, but when he is distracted from his work he accidentally cuts hand nearly clean off.Even with the doctors best effort to try to save the boys life, the boy passes away during the oper ation. It is here that the recurring theme reveals itself when Frost writes, No more to build on there. And they, since they Were not the one dead turned to their affairs (33, 34). In this poem the bystanders represent the indifferent universe, they continue on with their lives, as the boy dies alone. In conclusion, the influence of the New England landscape has clearly played a huge part in Robert Frosts lifes work as a poet.One is hard pressed to find a poem of his that does not contain some kind of metaphor inspired by the natural world surrounding him. Although the great poet does explore the recurring theme of the human condition where man is alone in the vast and indifferent universe, this theme is not nearly as constant as his metaphoric use of natural world. Frost was able to make a name for himself through this poetic style and will remain as one of the greatest American poets there ever was and will be. References Robert Frost. The Poetry Foundation. The Poetry Foundation , n. d. Web. 14 Apr. 2013.