Tragedy struck his life in 1900 when his first son died of cholera and his wife from cancer. However with many tragedies he also had many accomplishments. In 1930 he received the Russell Loines Poetry Prize. Robert had many more children but had great difficulties with them. His daughter Jeanie had to be placed into a mental hospital in 1920, his daughter Elinor died of heart failure on 1938. Which affected Frost health and stability. In 1939 he was awarded the Gold Medal from the National Institute of Arts and Letters in New York. In 1940 his son Carol killed himself, adding to Frosts instable lifestyle. On 1950, the U.S Senate honored Robert frost by adopting a resolution honoring him on his 75th birthday. Frost had mountain Ripton, in Vermont named in his honor. Congress awarded him a Gold Medal in 1960 for his great poetry. His poetry is like small literary photographs that capture moments of beauty and moments of grief throughout life. (Brower, Reuben 3)
In the poem “the road not taken”, The speaker of this poem is anyone going through a certain situation in which they must decide between what path to follow or what to do in or at a certain moment by which a decision must be made. Robert Frost describes the choices we make as two roads that lead to different places where we do not know where they lead. Where they lead is our future which we cannot tell and we try to forecast as well as we can, to be able to choose the better one. As he quotes “ and looked down one as far as I could... to where it bent in the undergrowth. Then took the other, just as fair”(lines 4-6). He shows how people try to make the best choice because of how it looks or seems to be, without true perception of where it may lead. “And having perhaps the better claim, because it was grassy and wanted wear”(line 7-8). Robert Frost also shows us the importance of our decisions, once we decide to take a certain path there is no way to turn back time, therefore the only way to continue is ahead. “Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back”(line 14-15). Robert Frost’s tone is thoughtful, in a way stressed between decision he needs to make. “And sorry I could not travel both”(line 2). The object of this poem was to show how the decisions made in our lives can make a difference in were we end up. The poet’s main purpose in writing this poem was to express the way he feels that everything he does and decides upon will influence his future in which he cannot go back on and change.
The speaker of the poem “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening” is that of a person who knows they have many dreams to accomplish and a long road ahead of them. However they think about rest and peace, in the poem Robert frost describes the woods dark and deep, just like describing a heavy sleep, dark, very profound and peaceful just like the snow. He describes the long way he has to go before he sleeps which in a way can have the significance of death, which is a heavy sleep, dark and deep. The life ahead of him is the promises he has to keep, “And miles to go before I sleep”(line 15). His horse represents a boundary between his life and death, his promises to keep. The horse shows him that it isn’t his time. “I hear his harness bells shake. In wonder at my strange mistake”(line 21-22). Robert Frost’s tone in this poem is calm and relaxing, knowing he has responsibilities to bound him to being alive. The purpose of this poem was to express what Robert feels towards life, responsibilities and struggles, “promises to keep”, things to be accomplished. Life is a fight to live and achieve in which we sometimes feel we have to many things to do before we sleep or die.
In the poem a “Mending Wall” the speaker of this poem is a neighbor. He wishes to know why there should be a wall separating him from his neighbor, if he feels there isn’t any reason that a wall is needed to protect each other from. “Isn’t it where there are cows? But there are no cows.” However all the neighbor responses is “Good neighbors make good friends”(line 27). Because there is a reason for the wall, it is to keep the neighbor out, this means that good distance between neighbors leaves no space for discussions or misunderstandings. Therefore they are good neighbors, and the wall makes sure that the separation is between them keeping them from each other, and preventing them from becoming bad neighbors. Roberts Frost tone in this poem is that of confusion, trying to understand. An example of this can be line 30 “why do they make good neighbors? Isn’t it where the cows are”. Robert uses personification to justify his reason that there is no necessary use fro the wall. “My apple trees will never get across... And eat the cones under his pines”(lines 25-26). The purpose of this poem was to explain why sometimes the distance between people can be positive because it prevents afflictions and tension between certain people, specially neighbors, which are people that you would like to live peacefully with.
Robert Frost is known as a very well accomplished man to many. Frosts poetic and political conservatism caused him to loose favor with literary critics, but his reputation as a major poet is secure. He unquestionably succeeded in realizing his life’s ambition; to “a few poems it will be hard to get rid of”. The poem “Mending Wall” demonstrates Frost’s simultaneous command of lyrical verse, dramatic conversation, and ironic commentary.
“The road not taken” and stopping by the woods on a snowy evening” exemplify Frost’s ability to join pastoral and philosophical modes in lyrics of unforgettable beauty. ( Winnick 2).
Robert Frost can be described as a strong man, whose life wasn’t easy, but was able to work hard and accomplish many of his goals. A man who represented his life to the public through his writing, expressing feelings and opinions about the world in particular. Discussing themes about situations that many people go through on their daily lives. Looking deeper into situations and finding a meaning behind things that seem to be very simple.
Mending Wall
Something There is that doesn’t love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
And makes the gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left no one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill:
And one a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each,
And some are loaves and some are nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance
“ Stay where you are until our backs are turned!”
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of outdoor game,
One on a side. It comes to little more,
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard,
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, “Good fences make good neighbors.”
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
“why do they make good neighbors? Isn’t it
Where there are cows? But there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I’d ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And whom I was lie to give offense.
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That wants it down. “I could say “Elves” to him,
But its not elves exactly, and I’d rather
He said it for himself. I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
in each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in the darkness as it seems to me,
Not of woods only and the shade of trees,
He will not go behind his father’s saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, “Good fences make good neighbors.”
Stopping by the Woods on Snowy Evening
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop with out a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only sound’s the sweep
O f easy wind and downy flake.
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.
I know these woods their owner too,
I feel I watching them some fear,
I sense my little horse’s rue,
Pausing without a farmhouse near.
I hear his harness bells now shake
In wonder at my strange mistake.
I hear the sound of falling snow,
All easy wind and downy flake.
I love the woods so dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
