Robert Frost as a nature poet.

Name: Drashti V. Dave 

Submitted to: Smt. S. B. Gardi Department of English

Maharaja Krisnkumarsinhji Bhavnagar University

Assignment Sub.: Role of Nature in Frost’s poems

Roll no:    06                             Year: 2014

Paper no: 10 – The American Literature

Sem: 3             MA. Part- 2

                               

Role of Nature in Frost’s poems

Introduction:  Robert Frost was the leading modern American poet of nature and rural life. Most of his poems are upon natural element. He was very much interested in natural things; he found beauty in common place.

Many of his poems have a New England setting and deal with the theme of man’s relationship with nature. (htt)

(Robert Frost)

Frost’s verse was lyrical; he was often considered a dramatic poet. One of his most admired poems “The Mending Wall” describes the conflict that arises between the poem’s narrator and his neighbor over rebuilding a wall that separates their farms.

The neighbor holds the traditional opinion that; “Good fences make good neighbors” but the narrator believes that walls are unnecessary and unnatural between people who should trust each other. So nature was the dominant subject of his poetry.

How he uses nature: His poetry and subject of poetry talk about man’s existence in the Natural world. His attitude towards Nature is one of armed and amicable true and mutual respect.

There is almost nothing of the mystic in Frost. He does not seek in Nature either a sense of oneness with all created things or union with God. There is nothing platonic in his view of life.

Frost believes that man should live in harmony with nature and not go against nature or natural process. He uses simple things and worlds in his poems. In our day to day life we shown so many natural things which cannot avoid by us and this things frost use in his poetry with have very deep and symbolic meaning.

Importance of Nature in Man’s life:  So many literary writers’ uses Nature is their work. William words worth is one of them. He uses so many natural elements in his poetry. Nature is very important figure in human’s life. It helps us many ways. For examples:-Trees, water, seasons… that all are natural things and because of them we easily survive.

Nature is everything that was not made by man.

(contradictory nature) 

(Contradiction of nature)

Nature is permanent, human being cannot change nature. Ward nature has very broad meaning. It changes automatically and it changes every day. In the works of art, nature generally functions as background of place and time, obviously literature has considered as important things in environment. So Nature is important in human’s life and interesting subject of literary writer’s also.

 Major Theme of Frost’s poetry:  1)Nature:

 Nature is first and most important characteristic of Frost’s poem. Frost places a great deal of importance on Nature in all of his collections. Because of the time he spent in New England, the majority of pastoral scenes that he describes are inspired by specific locations in New England. However, Frost does not limit himself to stereotypical pastoral themes such as sheep and shepherds. Instead, he focuses on the dramatic struggles that occur within the natural world, such as the conflict of the changing of seasons (as in "After Apple-Picking") and the destructive side of nature (as in "Once by the Pacific"). Frost also presents the natural world as one that inspires deep metaphysical thought in the individuals who are exposed to it (as in "Birches" and "The Sound of Trees"). For Frost, Nature is not simply a background for poetry, but rather a central character in his works.

2) Everyday Life

Frost is very interested in the activities of everyday life, because it is this side of humanity that is the most "real" to him. Even the most basic act in a normal day can have numerous hidden meanings that need only to be explored by a poetic mind. For example, in the poem "Mowing," the simple act of mowing hay with a scythe is transformed into a discussion of the value of hard work and the traditions of the New England courtyard.

3) Communication

Communication or the lack thereof, appears as a significant theme is several of Frost's poems, as Frost presents it as the only possible escape from isolation and despair. Unfortunately, Frost also makes it clear that communication is extremely difficult to achieve. For example, in "Home Burial," Frost describes two terrible events: the death of a child and the destruction of a marriage. The death of the child is tragic, but inability of the husband and wife to communicate with each other and express their grief about the loss is what ultimately destroys the marriage. Frost highlights this inability to communicate by writing the poem in free verse dialogue; each character speaks clearly to the reader, but neither is able to understand the other.

4) Isolation of the Individual

This theme is closely related to the theme of communication. The majority of the characters in Frost's poems are isolated in one way or another. Even the characters that show no sign of depression or loneliness, such as the narrators in "The Sound of Trees" or "Fire and Ice," are still presented as detached from the rest of society, isolated because of their unique perspective.

5) Rural Life versus Urban Life

This theme relates to Frost's interest in Nature and everyday life. Frost's experience growing up in New England exposed him to a particular way of life that seemed less complicated and yet more meaningful than the life of a city dweller. Frost has more opportunities to find metaphysical meaning in everyday tasks and explore the relationship between mankind and nature through the glimpses of rural life and farming communities that he expresses in his poetry.

These are major themes of his poetry we are shown this type of characteristic in many of his poems. (htt3)

Frost uses nature to express his views as well as to make his poetry interesting.

First in the poem ‘Stopping by woods on the snowy evening’ in this poem there is a lot of nature expressed. Title of the poem is woods are natural thing first line of the poem; whose woods these are I think I know.

 Throughout the poem he continuously talk about woods and its beauty last stanza is very symbolic, in that he uses contradictionary nature means combination of nature with fear because nature sometimes harmful also.

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

(Image of woods, it looks beautiful but has deepness and darkness)

At the last stanza very beautifully describe woods as lovely, dark and deep. The darkness of the woods is an idea, poet uses last line in twice in the poem, means he emphasizing a connection between beauty and mystery.

Robert Frost’s chief concern is with man. The focus in his poetry is a man’s position and attitude and especially on his feelings. Frost reveals a good deal about his conception of universe and external reality in his poetry. In several poems, Frost indicates that man fail to understand nature and its relationship with man.

Most of his poems use nature imagery and devices. Taking nature as a background, he usually begins a poem with an observation of something in nature and then moves toward a connection to some human situation or concern. His treatment of nature is different from other nature poets: he is neither a transcendentalist nor a pantheist. Therefore, his use of nature is the single most misunderstood element of his poetry. Frost himself said over and over,

"I am not a nature poet. There is almost always a person in my poems."

(frostfriends.org)

The elements and settings of Frost’s poetry are natural.

In many of his poems, Frost uses nature as metaphor. He observes something in nature and says this is like that. He leads you to make a connection, but never forces it on the reader. Frost (1946) himself writes about his use of metaphor,

“There are many other things I have found myself saying about poetry, but the chiefs of these is that it is metaphor, saying one thing and meaning another, saying one thing in terms of another, the pleasure of ulteriority.”

Frost shows that the indifferent nature could be both generous and malicious to the human world. Nature exists outside the Self, is formed there and has existence beyond the idealistic notion that thought determines reality.”

Actually Frost’s nature is different from Wordsworth who sees nature as

          “The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse,

          The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul                 

           Of all my moral being.” (TINTERN ABBEY, 109-111) (htt1)

Frost uses a realistic technique in his poems: art mirrors reality.  As such, Frost synthesizes the human and the natural through language, imagination, and metaphor.

In "On Frost's Realistic Technique," Amy Lowell says that Frost's poetry is photographic, that it captures characters and landscapes, freezes them, burns them into memory--again bound by what he has seen.  Amy Lowell uses natural imagery herself to describe Frost:

[Frost's] imagination is bounded by what he has seems, he is confined within the limits of experience (or at least what might have been his experience) and bent all one way like the windblown trees of New England hillsides. (enotes)

His poems like; ‘Nothing Gold can stay’ and ‘Design’ themes are man finds himself isolated and alienated and cut off from other man of the universe, in that poems he talked about man’s position is permanently difficult in the universe.

Frost seems to be grappling with the question of how we balance such symbols of death with a loving and ultimately caring deity. In the second part of the poem Frost ask series of questions.

First line of the poem is; I found a dimpled spider, fat and white,

             

 In the second stanza Frost beautifully describe that:

               What had that flower to do with being white....

It shows beauty with danger or mystery. Beauty of whiteness.

     (Here we are shown that how Frost uses natural elements like; white spider and cobweb in this poem)

It is very symbolic line throughout the poem Frost uses lots of symbols. The flower, the spider and the moth forces us to confront the central issues of the poem.

In Robert Frost’s poem “After apple-picking”, the reader come to know that old man who has worked harvesting apples his entire life. In the smell of the apple blossoms and the beauty of the russet color of the apple, the reader realizes the old man’s of his apple orchard.

In his poem “Fire and Ice”,

             

(Binary opposition: both are equally important for human being)

Here he uses contradictory word. Fire-with the emotion of desire and ice with hate. The poem decribes a fictional debate between people who say that the world will end in fire and people who say it will end in ice. The debate is highly symbolic.

Some of his poems are about human relation. “Mending Wall”, “Home-Burial”… is in this category.

“Mending Wall”:

First line of the poem is; ‘Something there is that doesn’t love a wall… means here poet talk about concrete  thing that is wall, may be here wall is a symbol of two neighbor and it is also connected with two country. The ritual of wall maintenance highlights the dual and complementary nature of human society. Poet says twice… that something there is that doesn’t love a wall… there is some intent and value in wall reeking, and there is some powerful tendency toward this destruction. So many questions arises in mind while reading this poem here a discussion of the construction-disruption.

Creation is a positive act- a mending or –a building words reflects creativity. We come to know so many meanings of wall. Wall-boundaries or construction or destruction. The task of mending the wall is difficult and because nothing in their respective properties poses a threat to the others, speaker tries to continue to fix the wall.

“The Gift Outright” is different from all; it serves as history, and political statement. The title gains complexity throughout the poem. Frost talk about nation in this poem poet use the word ‘She’ for land. The subject of the poem is American history. In the beginning of life in America, the land and labored to survive.

“Home Burial” is one of the longest poems of Frost’s it is also a poem about human relation. Here poet talked about married couples fighting after their baby dies. Title of the poem suggests that someone’s burial, poet mainly focus on tragic side of human nature. Two tragedies are shown here death of a child and a death of a marriage.

            Poet mainly focus on the word ‘death’ he indicates that death plays a vital role in man’s life. In John Donne’s word “Death is inevitable truth of life.”  It is natural process and Frost also believes in that and here he wrote on this theme. Frost shows how such a traumatic event strains a marriage. Such a situation in poem is very symbolic, Frost beautifully describe whole event in beautiful words, some situations like standing on the upstairs is shows mentality of human mind.

Relationship between man and nature: Robert Frost uses his poetry to establish a relationship between man and nature by showing how nature can console, teach and impact choices made by mankind. In ‘mending wall’ the implication is for nature to teach man, when nature damages the wall the two neighbors are brought together.

 Frost had a love-hate relationship with Mother Nature. In his personal life, he reveled in the simple joys of farming and being in touch with the earth. As a reflective of his personal life, he saw nature as beautiful and full of hope, yet also random and chaotic. Here are some quotes about nature;

“In all thing of nature there is something of the marvelous” –Aristotle

“Whenever I have found myself stuck in the ways I relate to thing, I return to nature. It is my principal teacher.” –Wynn Bullock.

Many literary writers gave so much importance to nature. In above quotes nature lessons in our life. Frost also talked about nature as a teacher, he said that man cannot ignore nature. Nature is homogeneous. The Sanskrit word for nature is prakriti.  

If we talk about relationship between man and nature, than nature makes man, to be in harmony with nature means stagnation. Mankind has to depend on nature for his food, shelter, clothing and other necessities, to be able to survive.

Most of Robert Frost’s poetry contains images and metaphors from nature, but even Frost once said of himself that; he is not a “nature poet”. He says in almost all of his poems there is “a man”. It seems Frost likes to use nature as the avenue to compare human struggles with a force that is constant.

Frost wrote in the 20^th century- “Modern Literature” – his use of nature is his attempt to take something familiar and traditional, but to use it as a point of comparison for complex human emotions.

Frost synthesizes the human and the nature through language, imagination and metaphor. Frost uses a realistic technique in poems; art mirrors reality. In his collections we are shown reflection of nature, he focuses on the dramatic struggles that occur within the natural world, if it is conflict of charging seasons. (As in ‘After Apple-pacific’) or the destructive side of nature (as in ‘Once by the pacific’).

For frost, Nature is not simply a back ground for poetry, but rather a central character in his works.

Conclusion:- In frost’s familiarity with his views about nature, plays a more crucial role than information about his life, readers should appreciate the role of nature in his work.

Frost’s nature poetry is so excellent and characteristic of his poetry it must be given a prominent place in any account of his art. What he finds in nature is sensuous pleasure; he is also sensitive to the earth’s fertility and man’s relationship to the soil.

Critic M.L. Rosenthal says that; Frost’s pastoral quality, his ‘Lyrical and pastoral quality realistic repossession of the rural and nature things’ is the staple of his reputation. He is aware about the ultimate separateness, distinction of nature and man.

He is often compared with Emily Dickenson and Ralph Waldo Emerson. His images, woods, stars, houses, brooks are usually taken from everyday life. It shows his down to earth nature. Frost’s poems show deep appreciation of natural world and sensibility and because of that readers are easy to follow the poet into deeper truths without being burned with pedantry.

Frost was considered a kind of unofficial poet laureate of the US.

He learns so many things from nature and life and this statement proves that what he feels about nature;

“In three words I can sum up everything I have learned about life; that it goes on..”   - Robert Frost