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AS and A Level: Robert Frost

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88 AS and A Level Robert Frost essays

Marked by Teachers essays 3
Peer Reviewed essays 1

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost relates on both a literal and metaphoric level to the concept of a journey.

3 star(s)

The writer shows potential in this essay. Concepts are well explained and the symbolic reading of the poem is apparent. With better planning and less repetition, this would have achieved…
- Essay length: 1138 words
- Submitted: 24/02/2004
- Marked by teacher: Karen Reader 21/02/2012
- Reviewed by: _becca 02/04/2012
Write a critical appreciation of Mending Wall exploring how far you think that Frost uses his observations of a simple rural event to make a significant conclusion.

3 star(s)

The writer sums up the opposing readings succinctly, but should avoid a 'binary' approach - texts can provide more than 1 or 2 meanings!
A generally well constructed essay, but…
- Essay length: 935 words
- Submitted: 13/11/2010
- Marked by teacher: Karen Reader 21/02/2012
Discuss Frosts use of language and setting in Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening and compare with Desert Places.

3 star(s)

The last paragraph is quite generalised and needs to achieve a deeper level of comparison and contrast. The writer shows a good knowledge of both texts and an ability to…
- Essay length: 1657 words
- Submitted: 13/11/2010
- Marked by teacher: Karen Reader 21/02/2012
Analysis of Robert Frost's "After Apple Picking" and "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening".
- Essay length: 569 words
- Submitted: 14/06/2012
Fros's peorty is more about people than nature. Discuss
- Essay length: 2621 words
- Submitted: 23/03/2011
Critical analysis of "Out, Out--"
- Essay length: 770 words
- Submitted: 25/09/2010
By looking at 'Birches' and 'Out, Out-' by Robert Frost, compare and contrast the ways in which the poet conveys the theme of childhood.
- Essay length: 1008 words
- Submitted: 21/09/2010
The poem 'After Apple Picking' by Robert Frost is one the most celebrated and widely read poems of the Romantic Period. The poem was drawn from Frosts' own life, his recurrent losses, everyday tasks, and his loneliness.
- Essay length: 587 words
- Submitted: 01/03/2010
Acquainted with the night
- Essay length: 1568 words
- Submitted: 25/04/2009
The road not taken
- Essay length: 1698 words
- Submitted: 25/04/2009

Writing about context in Robert Frost's poetry

1 Frost’s poetry spans the first half of the 20th century and is considered by some to combine 19th century American tradition with 20th century modernism.
2 Frost believed that writing in free verse was like ‘playing tennis without a net.'
3 His poems are not experimental in form or technique, but infuse traditional structures with modern idiom and the rhythms of speech.
4 Many of Frost’s poems are dramatic monologues, conveying a strong sense of ‘voice’.
5 Frost referred to poetry as a ‘refrigeration technique’ which ‘stops language from going bad’.

Themes in Frost's work

1 Frost often addresses the theme of loneliness and isolation. His narrators are invariably alone, trapped in nostalgic reflection, debating their ‘promises’ or duties to others and assessing the significance of structures which exist to impose boundaries and borders between individuals.
2 Frost makes strong use of the environment to reflect on the inner state of his narrators or express the relationship between characters.
3 Consider the use of paths, woods, walls to reflect symbolically on destiny.
4 Similarly, Frost makes strong references to the sea, darkness, snow as more abstract symbols of death and unknowingness.
5 Dramatic monologues often serve to reinforce the distance and isolation between the ‘voice’ and those about him.

Poetic techniques used by Frost

1 Frost adheres to regular rhythms but makes more erratic use of rhyme. When identifying these, be sure to comment on how these inform and shape the meanings of the poem.
2 Interestingly, it is also useful to look at exceptions, which break up the regularity of the rhythm and draw attention to particular moments in the poem.
3 Frost is generally praised for emulating the natural sounds of speech and thought in his poetry: look for evidence of varying sentence lengths, repetition, inversion, colloquialism, parenthesis, hyphenation and pausing (caesura).
4 Avoid confusing the narrator of the poems with Frost himself, however closely the content resembles his life. Refer to the voice as the ‘narrator’ or ‘persona’.
5 Frost’s language is often simple, earthy and prosaic, reflecting a vernacular in keeping with his New England identity. Consider the ways in which this informs our interpretation of his poetry.

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Conclusion analysis

Good conclusions usually refer back to the question or title and address it directly - for example by using key words from the title.
How well do you think these conclusions address the title or question? Answering these questions should help you find out.

Do they use key words from the title or question?

Do they answer the question directly?

Can you work out the question or title just by reading the conclusion?

Compare the poems "Hard Frost" and "winter the Huntsman". Decide which poem paints the best picture.

"In the end both poems are different in imagery but the best image in my opinion is the one in hard frost because it's the Christmas that everyone tends to see. However winter the huntsman is more realistic but it is a image of winter that people don't want to see, because of the holiday of Christmas."

Closely analyse the poems 'Sacifice' by Taufiq Rafat and 'Out, Out' by Robert Frost. Explain what the poems tell us about the cultures from which they originate.

"I liked the fact that Frost uses particular techniques such as, personification, repetition, onomatopoeia, and word structure, which produced a precise rhythm to the poem. Another bit of this poem I liked is that throughout the poem the buzz saw is personified and is given human and animal like qualities. 'And the saw snared and rattled, snarled and rattled as it ran light or had to bear a load'. This I found suggests that the saw is in fact some kind of creature, which may posses more power than the boy. To some up I think that Frost's ideas of life and death, the harshness of life's demands, and how he shows personal interest in the way in which individuals deal with life's issues such as death are clearly reflected in the poem 'Out, Out'. I think that this was a great poem to read."

How does Ratsushinskaya depict her suffering? Discuss with reference to two poems.

"Overall, Irina Ratushinskaya depicts her suffering in the hard labour camp very sincerely. She uses both physical conditions and emotional heartache to display to the reader the true extent of her suffering. Ratushinskaya uses different subjects such as family and friendships to show her determination and the strong perseverance, which she holds. Although the two poems are different they both use descriptive verbs and show how Ratushinskaya tried to convince herself that the prison did not affect her. However in certain places in her poetry it can be seen that she is missing her family and that she is being haunted by old memories she doesn't want to get caught up in. She uses poetic devices such as caesura, enjambment and a semantic field of war to demonstrate her emotions, without actually telling the reader how she is feeling. Irina Ratushinskaya can be quite informative about her ordeal, giving the reader detailed events, in which she went through. In conclusion Ratushinskaya's suffering is depicted in both poems in an effective way, allowing the reader to relate to what she is going through. 5 1"

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AS and A Level: Robert Frost

88 AS and A Level Robert Frost essays

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost relates on both a literal and metaphoric level to the concept of a journey.

Write a critical appreciation of Mending Wall exploring how far you think that Frost uses his observations of a simple rural event to make a significant conclusion.

Discuss Frosts use of language and setting in Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening and compare with Desert Places.

Analysis of Robert Frost's "After Apple Picking" and "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening".

Fros's peorty is more about people than nature. Discuss

Critical analysis of "Out, Out--"

By looking at 'Birches' and 'Out, Out-' by Robert Frost, compare and contrast the ways in which the poet conveys the theme of childhood.

The poem 'After Apple Picking' by Robert Frost is one the most celebrated and widely read poems of the Romantic Period. The poem was drawn from Frosts' own life, his recurrent losses, everyday tasks, and his loneliness.

Acquainted with the night

The road not taken