Ladhva Sagarkumar G.Roll No. 25

Enrollment No: 14101022Semester – M.A. Sem. 3

Paper : 10(American Literature)Year :2015- 16

Email. Id : sagarladhva5507@gmail.com

Topic:- Theme of Robert Frost Poetry

Submitted to:

Smt. S.B. Gardi Department of English

M.K.Bhavnagar University, Bhavnagar.

Key Index

Introduction Robert Frost Work of Robert Frost Main Theme of Frost Poetry Conclusion

Presentation will be useful in….. Write a note on Robert Frost as a

nature poet. Write a note on Robert Frost’s use of

symbols in his poems. Evaluated frost poetry Theme Robert Frost Poetry is modernist

Arts..

ROBERT FROST’S THEMES

Frost’s poems deal with man in relation with the universe. Man’s environment as seen by frost is quite indifferent to man, neither hostile nor benevolent. Man is alone and frail as compared to the vastness of the universe.

Such a view of “man on earth confronting the total universe” is inevitably linked with certain themes in frost’s poetry.

He liked to use language as it is actually spoken.

He is a poet of deep thoughts. Behind his descriptions you can find spiritual meaning.

He wrote the poem in such a way that it could either be about his relationship with his neighbor or about relationships with any one anywhere.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Home Burial

Design

Mending wall

fire & Ice

The Gift Outright

His Works:

The Egg and the Machine

Dust of Snow

Meeting and Passing

Man’s isolation

One of the most striking themes in Frost’s poetry is man’s isolation from his universe or alienation from his environment. Frost writes in“Desert Places”, “The loneliness includes me unawares”. Man is essentially alone, as is borne out in frost’s poetry.

Frost is not so much concerned with depicting the cultural ethos of New England people as with presenting them “caught up in a struggle with the elementary problem of existence”. The New England of Frost reflects his consciousness of “an agrarian society isolated within an urbanized world”.

Man is alone in the countryside or in the city in “Acquainted with the Night”.

In “Home Burial”, the lady suffers from a terrible sense of self-alienation, as well as alienation from her surroundings. And, more than the physical loneliness, man suffers from the loneliness within.

‘My words are nearly always an offense. I don’t know how to speak of anything.’

Some Important Theme in Frost Poem:

Barrier is the predominant theme

Theme of human limitation

Theme of extinction or death

Theme of love

Theme of affirmation

Man’s Isolation

A concern with barrier is the predominant theme in Frost’s poetry.

Man is always erecting and trying to bring down barriers-- between man and environment, between man and man.

Practically all of Frost’s poems depict the theme of human limitation. The universe seems chaotic and horrific because man’s limited faculties cannot comprehend its meaning. Walls, physical and real, mental and invisible, separate man from Nature. 

“Neither Out Far Nor In Deep” shows man’s limitation concerning the mysterious universe. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” conveys the sense of an impenetrable and indefinite universe.

The poem has a sad, melancholy or calm tone. The tone is achieved though the use of continuants in the poem which gives the slow paces and sad mood.

• In nature you can find beauty and peace at heart. You cannot choose what you really want to do if you have “promises to keep”, which are your duty and responsibility to fulfill.

Theme of extinction or death also runs through the major themes of Frost. In many a poem he writes of “sleep” which is associated with death. “Fire and Ice” is a noteworthy poem on destruction by excess of desire or hatred. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”, “After Apple Picking”, “An Old Man’s Winter Night”, all these poems have a reference to death.

Theme of love is central to Frost’s poems. If there is any force that can help man meet the challenges of the universe, it is love.

In several of Frost’s poems, the significance of love between man and woman, or friendly love is brought out. It is when love breaks down or fades off that life becomes unbearable especially for the women in Frost’s poetry.

Theme of affirmation is also found in some of his poems. Frost ultimately presents the need for man to make the most of his situation. Aware of man’s limitations, he yet desires man to explore and seek knowledge and truth. Man should learn to accept things and his limitations cheerfully. He suggests stoical will and effort in the face of adversity as in “West Running Brook”. 

In most of Frost’s poems, the speaker undergoes a process of self-discovery. The wood-chopper of “Two Tramps in Mud Time” realizes by the end of the poem that he chops wood for love of work only but love and need should not be separated.

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 neighbours'.

Neighbour’s negative attitude –

good social relationships cannot exist when men are separated from one

another

In the face of the mystery and riddle of life there is necessity for determined human performance.

To Conclude …..

The major themes as discussed above are expressed through various devices. The symbolic significance invested in certain recurring objects like the stars, the snow, the woods serve to bring home to the reader all the more vividly the position of Man in the Universe.