Darker side of Robert Frost
Robert Frost is often referred to as a poet of nature. Words and phrases such as fire and ice, flowers in bloom, apple orchards and rolling hills, are all important elements of Frost's work. Remove them and something more than symbols are taken away. These 'benign' objects provide an alternative way to look at the world and are often used as metaphors to describe a darker view of nature and humans. In Frost's poetry, the depth is as important as the surface. The darker aspects of Frost's poetry are often portrayed through the use of symbolism, vivid imagery, and selective word choice. Frost's poems appear to be simple on the surface, yet upon further scrutiny the poems reveal themselves as elusive. Frost utilizes ordinary objects to create a deeper meaning. For example, the poem "Mending Wall", appears to be about the differences between two neighbors and their ideas on rebuilding a wall. On the other hand, the wall may be viewed, in a more general sense, as a symbol to represent all the antagonistic or mistrustful barriers that divide man from man. "The gaps I mean / No one has seen them made or heard them made / But at spring mending-time we find them there" (lines 9-11), illustrates the point that people become s
Likewise, the poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay" seems to represent the change of seasons. But further analysis reveals that the speaker is also paralleling the cycles of life with the change in seasons. "So dawn goes down to day" (7) illustrates that in life as in nature, golden moments fade away. "Then leaf subsides to leaf" (5) implies autumn, when the leaves begin to turn gold and fall to the ground. The color gold represents the end of life, whereas green represents new life. The poem also illustrates the loss of innocence. As the seasons change, life progresses and innocence can no longer be sustained. Autumn represents death. The changes in the color of the leaves are often viewed as beautiful even though it marks the end of a season. The end to human life creates overwhelming feelings of anxiety and uncertainty. Death, for some people, is a taboo subject. People are not overly comfortable discussing death because of the emotions evoked. Yet, Frost has the ability to create an awareness of the subject by using the beauty of nature as a filter.
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1066
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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