The ideas are very fanciful, a scythe whispering? Not an everyday topic, is it? He is very imaginative, and can be compared to William Wordsworth. Wordsworth also had very fanciful and imaginative ideas. You only need to read ‘The Kitten And The Falling Leaves’ to see that. “With a tiger-leap half-way,
now she meets the coming prey.
lets it go as fast, and then;
Has it in her power again.
Now she works with three or four,
like an Indian conjuror;
quick as he in feats of art,
far beyond in joy of heart.” Wordsworth heavily uses metaphors and similes in this poem. “…coming prey…” “…like an Indian conjuror…”
I didn’t really like this poem, as it is too… imaginative, too fanciful for my pessimist mind. I like to read things that you can see the fact in. A scythe whispering is totally unbelievable. All the sound was was the scythe whooshing through the air as Mr. Frost mowed.
Mr. Frost can also be compared to Lord Alfred Tennyson. His poem, ‘The Lady Of Shalott’ also uses fanciful ideas and formal language.
“Four grey walls, and four grey towers,
Overlook a space of flowers,
And the silent isle embowers
The Lady of Shalott.”
Lord Tennyson has used a metaphor there, like Mr. Frost does. “…The silent isle embowers…” compared to “…it whispered…” Very alike, although I know that Lord Tennyson was before Mr. Frost.
Mending Wall – Robert Frost.
This poem is about two neighbours mending a wall. It’s told in the first person perspective of the man (or woman) who does not want that wall there; he (or she) sees it as unproductive, and un-needed.
The two neighbours disagree, but they don’t voice their sides of the argument. They both feel that it is best not to start a fight, as there were probably no other people around for miles.
“He is all apple, and I am all pine.” The same person who wrote this could not have written After Apple Picking, as the person in that poem owns a whole orchard of apple trees, thereby making both poems contradict.
Anyway. I’m going off on a tangent. Mr. Frost is saying that there is no point in having the wall, as they had two different types of wall. They are not going to encroach on each other’s land.
“Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.” He is saying that as the wall gets knocked down, there is no point in rebuilding it. He is a pessimist at heart too. “What’s the point? It’ll only fall again.”
The language is slightly less formal than ‘Mowing’, but still more formal than you would hear in everyday speech. It’s still quite Shakespearean, which makes me think again that Mr. Frost got a lot of his ideas for his language from Shakespeare. The ideas are less fanciful, but still more fanciful than I am prepared to accept. “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.” It’s only the hunters trying to find their rabbit. How many dogs must have died from rocks falling on them? They should be nice to the dogs, and the rabbits, by putting up a proper wall, one that won’t fall down. It would make both sides of the argument happy, and would still be a wall.
“Good fences make good neighbours.” But it’s not a fence, it’s a wall, so how can ‘Good Fences make Good Neighbours’?
Lore – R. S. Thomas.
This poem is about Job Davies, a man who has spent his whole life out in the fields, and resents the intrusion of modern technology.
“Never mind the machine,
Whose fuel is human souls.”
He’s saying that we don’t need the machine; we can manage just fine with out it. He’s also saying that if you do turn to the machine, you will be eaten by it. You will lose your soul. Machines can break down; it’s always best to rely on good old techniques of mowing and farming.
“Rhythm of the long scythe
Kept this tall frame lithe.”
He’s saying that you get fat if you use the machine, and that lithe-ness is maintained by constant hard work out on the fields.
The language is that of an old man, set in his ways, and very formal. The imagery is there, quite prominent, and cannot be compared to any other poet. That I have read.
This poem, and this poet is not quite as unbelievable as Mr. Frost. Mr. Thomas is saying all the ideas that I myself have believed in firmly for years. “Live large, man, and dream small.” Or, in modern words, “Get out there and live it. Don’t just dream about it.”
The Evacuee – R. S. Thomas.
This poem is about a young girl that has been evacuated from her home during the war, as it was too dangerous for her to stay there.
She wakes up in the morning, and is frightened. She doesn’t know where she is, but the voices of the family and farm hands eating breakfast draw her out of her room and down the stairs. They all stop talking, and look at her as she comes down the stairs, and who wouldn’t? A new child suddenly appearing on your stairs when you had been used to just the people who were sitting in your kitchen as your company? Kind of disconcerting, isn’t it?
Gradually, under the supervision of the farm hands, she grows up, and takes over a couple of jobs on the farm. She did probably not want to go home after this, the city is nothing compared to the peace and tranquillity of the countryside. I know I wouldn’t.
I like this poem, as it is very historically accurate, as Mr. Thomas lived through the war. And the feelings of the girl at the beginning were very accurate too.
Wartime is not a very pleasant thing to write about, but Mr. Thomas makes it positive. There is not much of this fanciful-ness that you get with one of Mr. Frost’s poems, but it is still told through the eyes of a child. The language is quite formal, being set in wartime, and again, cannot really be compared to any other poet.
Conclusion.
I think that Mr. Frost depicts nature better, but that Mr. Thomas writes more believable poems.
Overall, I prefer Shakespeare to either of the poets, but Mr. Thomas is a much better poet.
And I also feel that the relationship between man and nature is something that will always be written about. What is true now, or what I’ve written here may not be what the next generation writes about, or may not be what is true in the years to come.
