Tiffany Kim

Assignment#3

                Robert Frost, acclaimed as one of the best poets of his time, shows through his works both understanding and appreciation of nature. And yet a sense of loneliness and melancholy are also present to offset simplicity. This sort of duality within and between poems is able to create many powerful themes and messages.

A number of the poems are simple, quick descriptions or thoughts on various topics, most often the natural world. For example, “The Pasture” is a brief 8 lines about “going out to clean the pasture spring.”  Similarly “The Tuft of Flowers” is seems to be full of wonder at the “one who mowed [grass] in the dew before the sun.”  Such innocent and beautiful depictions convey emphasis on nature’s value, a concept that is prevalent through nearly all of Frost’s poems, even those which display deeper meaning than these fleeting appraisals.

“The loneliness includes me unawares,” (Desert Places) is one such “deeper meaning” attained by many, the notion that loneliness can lie within anything, in the most unexpected places. The passage “Now the chimney was all of the house that stood/Like a pistil after the petals go” (the Need of Being Versed in Country Things) also projects such an image of solitude. Among others, the well-known poems “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening” and “Acquainted With the Night” add an underlying tone of sadness, as seen in lines such as “Whose woods these are I think I know/...He will not see me stopping here” and “…Came over houses from another street/But not to call me back or say goodbye.” In his writing, Frost combines this hidden darkness with the more peaceful face of nature to masterfully show the inevitable connection between them.

The beauty of nature and the loneliness and sadness that accompany it take a very prominent position within Frost’s works. As simple and attractive as the surrounding world may be, almost everything is in some way imperfect, allowing for less favorable emotions to pervade one’s perception. This theme that is carried throughout his collection of poems is an insightful way to view the world, and one that lends itself to the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of it.