Robert Frost's Poems Essay

Nature, there is just something about it that intrigues all of us. Whether it be the changing of the leaves during fall, the first snowy morning during winter or the birth of new life during the spring. We all have our different ways of connecting to nature and expressing those connections. In the poem Spring and All by William Carlos Williams he is expressing his thoughts and emotions about spring. While in the poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost he expresses the connections one can make with a snowy winter night. During this essay comparisons and contrasts will be made between these two poems and how they express their connections with nature.

In order to appreciate a poem properly, care must be taken to analyze and understand many different facets of the work. Poems are often very complex and require a great deal of thought in order to arrive at the intended meaning. At the very least, three particular items of information must be uncovered during the reading of poetry. An experienced reader of poetry will always determine the identity of the speaker, the occasion of the speech, and the central idea of the poem.

Most people know the poem “Fire and Ice” by Robert Frost. It is pretty famous. But do most people know the meaning of this unique poem? What does Robert Frost mean when he writes “if the world had to perish twice?” Although it is short, “Fire and Ice” is a puzzling poem filled with words that hold a meaning that we have to unlock.

Poetry is considered to be a representational text in which one explores ideas by using symbols. Poetry can be interpreted many different ways and is even harder to interpret when the original author has come and gone. Poetry is an incredible form of literature because the way it has the ability to use the reader as part of its own power. In other words, poetry uses the feelings and past experiences of the reader to interpret things differently from one to another, sometimes not even by choice of the author. Two famous poets come to mind to anybody who has ever been in an English class, Robert Frost and E.E. Cummings. Both of these poets have had numerous famous pieces due to the fact that they both

October, and analyzes the nature around him. At the end of the poem, he states that

He uses this in the poem to give it rhythm to engage the reader and

Robert Frost takes our imagination to a journey through wintertime with 
his two poems "Desert Places" and "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening". These two poems reflect the beautiful scenery that is present in the snow covered woods and awakens us to new feelings. Even though these poems both have winter settings they contain very different tones. One has a feeling of depressing loneliness and the other a feeling of welcome solitude. They show how the same setting can have totally different impacts on a person depending on 
their mindset at the time. These poems are both made up of simple stanzas and diction but they are not straightforward poems.

In Robert Frost’s “Design,” written in 1922, the narrator laments the juxtaposition of life and death that he bears witness to when he sees a spider on a heal-all flower carrying the dead moth it has killed. He uses a modified Italian or Petrarchan sonnet, punctuation, repetition of rhyme and diction, repetition of anomaly, and repetition of the same rhyme in both the octave and the sestet, to convey that death is a question that cannot be answered and that the only solution, the only answer, is to continue to ponder over it. While it is a question that cannot be answered, it must be questioned anyway. He uses symbols he has drawn from in earlier works, as well as his experience playing with the form of the Petrarchan sonnet in the past, to help shed light on the importance of this.

The early and later life of Robert Frost was entailed with many hardships that influenced a variety of themes and key concepts within his works such as thematic ideas surrounding the simple pleasures taken for granted in life until they disappear, evident in Frost's poem "Birches," and city life opposed to farm life, evident in "Acquainted with the Night." Robert Lee Frost was born on March 26, 1874 in San Francisco, California to William Prescott Frost Jr and Isabelle Moody Frost. The two had on other child, Jeanie Frost, in 1876 when their son was two. Frost childhood was pervaded with hardships stemming mostly from the actions of his father. Frost's father was an alcoholic who drank and gambled the family's funds into oblivion while exercising

century. Most Americans recognize his name, the titles of and lines from his best-known poems, and even his face. Given his immense popularity, it is a remarkable testimony to the extent of his achievement that he is also considered to be one of the greatest, if not the very greatest, of modern American poets. "…the life and work of America's premier poet- the only truly national poet America has yet produced"(Parini23). His influence is still being felt in American life today. His success in America as well as in England has guaranteed the preservation of his legacy for generations to come. "…Frost gradually evolved from poet to cultural icon,

make a decision and at the end of the day, the nature of the decision

“The Road Not Taken” and “Nothing Gold Can Stay” are just two of many very famous poems, written by none other than Robert Frost. Robert Frost is a poet that is well known for his poetic contributions to nature, as well as his award winning poems. His poetic ability and knowledge make him an extraordinary author. His past; including schooling, family, and the era in which he wrote influenced nearly all of his poems in some way. This very famous poet contributed to the modernism era, had a family and an interesting life story, and a unique poetic style as well.

The poem "Design" explores whether the events in nature are simply random occurrences or part of a larger plan by God, and if there's a force that dominates and controls our very existence. On that point both Jere K Huzzard and Everett Carter aggress on. They differ in their interpretations of the poem's ending and what they think Frost wanted to convey with his vague ending. Both agree that the last line of the poem was written in an undefined way with purpose on Frost's side. But each critic poses his own ideas regarding what is the meaning of that line. While Carter examines the whole poem in order to answer this question, Huzzard chose to focus only on the last two lines.

“Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words,” Robert Frost once said. As is made fairly obvious by this quote, Frost was an adroit thinker. It seems like he spent much of his life thinking about the little things. He often pondered the meaning and symbolism of things he found in nature. Many readers find Robert Frost’s poems to be straightforward, yet his work contains deeper layers of complexity beneath the surface. These deeper layers of complexity can be clearly seen in his poems “ The Road Not Taken”, “Fire and Ice”, and “Birches”.

Robert Frost is perhaps one of America's best poets of his generation. His vivid images of nature capture the minds of readers. His poems appear to be simple, but if you look into them there is a lot of insight. Robert Frost spoke at John F. Kennedy's inauguration. He is the only poet to have had the opportunity to speak at a presidential inauguration. Through his poetry people learn that Robert Frost is a complicated and intellectual man who has a place in many American hearts. (Richards P.10)