Robert Frost's "Fire and Ice"
Robert Frost's "Fire and Ice" Fire and Ice is a popular poem written in 1923 by Robert Frost. It is a very well known poem and is used in many high schools and colleges today. Many students along with various critics read this poem as Frost's idea as to how the world is going to end. People also take this in a Biblical sense, because the passage that God states the next time he destroys the world, it will be in fire. He blatantly states in the first lines, "Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice", which leads many critics to believe the simplicity of this poem was to be taken as simple and to the point. However, the poem was written in the roaring twenties, which is why I believe Frost had a deeper meaning attached than how the world was going to end. Opposing most critics with their view of this idea, I believe Robert Frost's "Fire and Ice" is about love. Fire being the love itself along with passion, ice is the lack of love, rather than a view on the end of the world. Katherine Kearns states that although you have to make a decision between the language, it still seems as if Frost is trying to allude to the end of the world (Cambridge University). Frost often writes in a very simply form, which is why critics are constantly led to believe Frost had no double meaning out of the poem. The form of 'Fire and Ice' is again, simple in the writing, leaving it easy
Choices are never easy; men face multitudes of them in their lifetime. Some decisions to these choices are clear while others are sometimes more difficult to make.
Choices are never easy; men face multitudes of them in their lifetime. Some decisions to these choices are clear while others are sometimes more difficult to make. The poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost is a first person narrative tale of a monumental moment in the speaker's life. Frost is faced between the choice of a moment and a lifetime manifested in his poem. Walking down a rural road, Frost encounters a point on his travel that diverges into two separate similar paths. Frost presents the idea of a man facing the difficult unalterable dilemma of a moment and a lifetime. This idea in Frost's poem is embodied in the fork in the road, the decision between the two paths, and the speaker's decision to select the road not taken. The "Road Less Traveled" lyrics by George Strait, also in first person narrative, seem to entail the same problematic road that "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost has. The "Road Less Traveled" pathway describes a winding road that never ends. Frost however, describes his pathway as two separate roads that represent a fork. Nonetheless, the roads in Frost's poem and Strait's lyrics both resemble the long and short pathways of life that are full of choices and lessons. Lessons, choices, and change are the basic concepts to these writings. Both the poem and lyrics depict a man's life; they are metaphorically related to a physical
"Out,Out--" by Robert Frost
Robert Frost's insightful yet tragic poem "Out, Out--" can be described as a narrative poem. It utilizes the various narrative elements (i.e. setting, plot, conflict, etc.), realistic imagery and the personification of a buzz saw to depict how people must continue onward with their lives after the death of a loved one, while also hinting at the selfish nature of the human race, which oftentimes shows concern only for itself. The poem narrates the story of a boy who dies as a result of accidentally cutting off his hand with a buzz saw in his own yard. Frost uses imagery to reveal the setting, the boy's "yard" in "Vermont" right before "sunset," using vivid detail to describe the "five mountain ranges" within eyesight of the yard. The narrator foreshadows the tragic event to come when he "wishes" that the workers would have "[called] it a day" and "[given]" the boy "the half hour that (he) counts so much when saved from work", the adult responsibility of cutting wood with a buzz saw. When talking about the saw, Frost uses personification and repetition. Personification is seen when he says that at times it can "[run] light" and at others it has to "bear a load," talking as if the saw was a person who had to carry something. Repetition is used to help build an image of the saw's movements where the words "snarled and rattled" are used a couple of times throughout the poem.
Acquainted with the night
Week7 Friday 23rd January, 2007 English Literature: Poetry Acquainted with the Night The Poem Robert Frost's "Acquainted with the Night" is a sonnet written in terza rima, a rhyme scheme that generally suggests a continual progression. The poem examines the poet's relationship with himself and with society. Consisting of seven complete sentences, each beginning with the words "I have," the poem relates Frost's journey from the "furthest city light" into the dark night. The first stanza introduces the poet's relationship with the night as an acquaintance. The idea that the poet is "one acquainted with the night" acts as the glue holding the poem together. Indeed, the first and last lines are identical, emphasizing the poet's assertion that he is acquainted with the night, and between these lines Frost clarifies the nature of the relationship. The first stanza also implies that his acquaintance with the night is a journey. He has both "walked out in rain-and back in rain" and has "outwalked the furthest city light." His journey into the night and into the rain is also, for the poet, a journey to self-knowledge. In the second stanza, the poet looks out at society-"down the saddest city lane"-as he leaves the confines of the city and, thus, society. Because he covets the time alone that he will have outside the city, he passes "the watchman on his beat," but
Commentary on Design by Robert Frost.
Commentary on Design This poem by Robert Frost is based on the idea that everything is governed by design. Design is a higher force of power that decides the way life goes and in this case, design decides that the spider kills the moth. In the beginning of the poem, a fat, white, dimpled spider is positioned on a white heal-all, which is a flower, holding up a dead moth. When Frost uses the word dimpled, he would be referring to the spider as young, immature, and innocent. This shows that the spider is not at fault for killing the moth since he is just following "Design". Frost also describes the flower as fat and white, just like a baby, both chubby and pale, gain, giving the reader a sense of innocence. Both the heal-all and moth are white, and in this case, the white color relays the idea of peace, meaning there was no conflict involved in the spiders taking the life of the moth. The dead moth is described as a piece of rigid satin cloth. Rigid means that obviously, the moth is dead. Satin Cloth shows that the moth was pure, innocent, and graceful. Frost also describes the moth and the spider as "assorted characters of death and blight" which means that they are characters, playing out their roles in the design. Everything that is happening is so common that Frost says that the morning cannot start right without it happening. Even though this is normal to Frost, he still
Death of a Naturalist, The Road not taken and Not My best side
Death of a Naturalist, The Road not taken and Not My best side This poem is a fertile mixture of imagery, sounds and an impression created by nature on a person's mind. Heaney feels an outstanding feel of the physical wonders of nature. The poet vividly describes a childhood experience that precipitates a change in the boy from the receptive and protected innocence of childhood to the fear and uncertainty of adolescence. Death of naturalist has emotional images, because it is the poet's memory and he is reminiscing. Heaney uses a number of poetic devices to create images. He uses language such as 'swelters' and 'punishing sun' to create an image of the hot summer that he remembered. The poet brings nature into the poem with the metaphor 'blue bottles'. The first line, "two roads diverged into a yellow wood," starts off the poem explaining 2 choices available to the author in life, using the extended metaphors of "roads" and "wood." As well, the word "yellow" is symbolism for the uncertainty Frost has in making his choice. In the line "And sorry I could not travel both", the word 'both' immediately indicates that Frost wanted to take both the paths, but being 'one traveller', he had to make a choice. The choice, it is clearly shown, was not an easy one "...long I stood and looked down as far as I could..." In the last stanza the narrator seems content with his choice
How does Robert Frost use rural imagery to suggest life's journey?
How does Robert Frost use rural imagery to suggest life's journey in After Apple Picking and The Road Not Taken? In the poem After Apple Picking the literal meaning is after many long days of work after the apple harvest, the speaker is tired of apple picking and the narrator reflects upon what he has done and what he has left undone. Ever since the morning, when he looked through a sheet of ice lifted from the surface of the water trough he has felt drowsy and dreamy. Though his ladder is still leaning against the tree and he has failed to pick all the apples. Even if the harvest is unfinished he knows it must be over as winter is coming and he now feels weary and experiences sleep coming on, but he begins to wonder whether or not is normal sleep or something deeper. The literal meaning of the poem 'The Road Not Taken' is it is about a traveller who is walking in the woods and has come upon two roads. The traveller cannot travel both roads and thus must make a decision which one to walk. He evaluates both roads and chooses the road less travelled realizing that he cannot back. The poem ends by the traveller stating that his choosing the road less travelled has made all the difference. In After Apple Picking the apples can be seen as a metaphor for the choices in life that people are ultimately responsible for the choices they pick. This is a very simple and straight
Birches" moves the reader to interpret the deeper meaning within the poem. Frost uses the metaphor of the ice storm to illustrate its connection with life. T
In the adolescent years we are young, we are strong, tall and unbent due to inexperience of childhood which is a very important and necessary part of youth. "Birches" illustrates the author's ability to take the regular activities of life and transform it, giving it a much deeper interpretation. The reader perceives the poem to refer to a young country boy "whose only play was what he found himself," in this situation, finding entertainment in riding birch branches. The poem, though appearance may seem quite literal in language, is very interpretive when closely viewed. "Birches" contains deeper themes of life, love, aging and death as well as good and evil which are to be conveyed in this essay. The poem opens with a description of the activities of the young. Frost contemplates the simplicity of childhood: "I like to think some boy's been swinging them." When we are young we are erect and straight such as the birch tree. The author implies the theme of aging by imagery of "straighter and darker trees..." Frost vividly describes the shape of the branches of the birch tree to show the overwhelming weight of the ice storm. "Then bend them down to stay." Frost uses the "ice storms" to describe the power of the journey through life and its toll that it takes. The author portrays the ice storms as dominant over the submissive branches. Frost uses this graphic detail to imply
Analysis of Robert Frost's "After Apple Picking" and "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening".
"A poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom,"- Robert Frost. This one simple quote highlights the foundation of Frost's poems. It hits the target. Each of Frost's poems indeed begin with "delight", a man picking apples, a man riding his horse or a man walking down a road. However, Frost is able to find the extraordinary in the most conventional situations, leaving the audience pondering and contemplating life's journeys. Frost explores the 'extraordinary' through the themes of mystery and human limitation. At the end of our lives, we will feel dissatisfaction and regret. After reading After Apple Picking, we may agree with this statement. However, Frost's ambiguous tone only hints at this morbid outcome, never truly confirming our suspicions. The persona himself is left wondering, "whatever sleep it is." Is it a "long sleep", "or just some human sleep." He wonders if he is just hibernating, like the woodchuck, but in the end, weariness overcomes suspicion and the audience is left wondering. Through use of seasonal imagery, the persona foreshadows his death, with reference to winter being made throughout the poem. The persona also states that when he saw his reflection in the "drinking trough" the reflection was "hoary" or grey with age. Seasonal imagery is also used to create mystery in Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening. Extreme use of symbolism turns it into a very
Emotional Barriers in Robert Frost's Mending wall and Home burial".
'Humankind erects and maintains real and symbolic barriers to protect and defend opposing stances beliefs and territories. The resulting lack of communication reinforces those barriers, often to detrimental effects'. Discuss in relation to at least two of frosts poems. The emotional barriers between humans are very evident within Robert Frost's Poems. Two poems written by Robert Frost which I am going to look at are, "Mending wall" and "Home burial. Barriers can be physical or figurative. Frosts poetry shows how Emotional Barriers make effective communication difficult. These barriers are basically characterised by suspicion, mistrust and fear. While a little amount of fear and lack of trust might be necessary, excess of these things is not good and prevents one from doing a lot of things including difficulty in communicating effectively. The Robert Frost poem "Mending Wall" was written in the autumn of 1913, while Frost was on his travels in England. This is the first poem in Frost's second collection North of Boston. North of Boston refers to northern New England and New Hampshire is known as the Granite State. When the early settlers cleared the land to farm it the loose stones were made into walls. In this poem Frost depicts a barrier between two men who are neighbours. The emotional barrier between the two people is symbolised as the wall. The speaker in the poem is
