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Robert Frost

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A Snowy Evening with Robert Frost Robert Frost once said, “It begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a loneliness. It is never a thought to begin with. It is at best when it is a tantalizing vagueness.” (“Poetry Foundation” n.d.). This poem holds a lot of mystery in its meaning which has a variety of interpretations. John T. Ogilvie who wrote, “From Woods to Stars: A pattern of Imagery in Robert Frost’s Poetry” interprets this as a poem about the journey through life. James G. Hepburn who wrote, “Robert Frost and His Critics” took a different approach. He believes this poem to be about the aesthetics and moral action. This poem contains a variety of literary devices that not only describe the scenery but …show more content…

As Hepburn says in his article, “Robert Frost and His Critics” “The mood that the poem induces in the reader nullifies his acceptance of the intention expressed by the traveler. The sum of the reader’s experience of the poem is different from the meaning of the traveler’s experience of the woods. Presumably the traveler goes home to supper, to his duties, and to the rest of his journey through life; but these things are not the poem.” Frost made some comments on the factors mood plays in a poem, “… the poet’s intention is of course a particular mood that won’t be satisfied with anything less than its own fulfillment.” (Hepburn 1962). This poem isn’t a recreated experience but meant to be an experience in itself. This poem has some interesting symbolism in it takes us on a journey through a man’s life. When the narrator first stops, instead of questioning himself, he questions what the horse thinks, “My little horse must think it queer” (842). By questioning the horse, he is really questioning his own reasons, which people often do while they make life decisions or everyday decisions. The horse is also a symbol of time the horse is questioning his stopping and urges him to move on to prevent the further loss of time (Anonymous). When the narrator’s horse shakes his harness bells, he then becomes a symbol, as John Ciardi thinks, “..order of life that does not understand why a man stops in the winter middle of nowhere to watch snow come

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