Robert Frost example essay topic

Robert Frost was an American Poet who wrote during the early to mid 1900's. He wrote about nature in his poems and expressed life through means of nature. He always used parts of nature to symbolize something that occurs in the real world. Robert Frost uses different parts of nature to relate to things that occur in the real world. Critic Malcolm Cowley says, "Frost is a poet neither of the mountains nor of the woods, although he lives among both, but rather of the hill pastures, the intervals, the dooryard in autumn with leaves swirling, the closed house shaking in the winter storms ("Frost, Robert" 427). In other words, this is simply showing that Frost was a man that loved nature and his poems reflected this.

For example, in "Clearing", Frost uses the setting of being in a forest with a man who can't come to a conclusion between the relationship of nature and humans ("Robert (Lee) Frost" 3). As seen here, Frost uses a forest to set up a conflict of conscience because the character is battling within him to distinguish a common likeness between the Earth and humans. In many of his poems, Frost expresses how the natural forces on Earth can relate to actual real life situations. For instance, in "Birches", the character ponders whether a child playing on it or the results of natural forces caused a broken branch and symbolically associates tree climbing with desires for heaven ("Robert (Lee) Frost" 2). Also, in "An Old Man's Winter Night", Frost connects nature with man's troubles by creating the horrors of nature's storms, which metaphorically shows the confusion of man's fears ("Robert Frost" 8).

Another example of how Frost uses nature to relate real life situations is in a poem called "Tree at My Window" where Frost has the character say, "not all their tongues could be profound", "he is not only referring to an image of leaves blowing on the tree but also to the process of photosynthesis" (Beacham 1045). As seen here, Frost links human tongues to leaves and photosynthesis, which is another example of Frost relating nature to real life occurrences. Frost always has some part of nature in his poems; he relates everything back to nature. In many of Frost's poems his "characters" face a standstill in their minds because they can't choose between unidentified parts of life, which is represented by wild nature or the dull parts of life like a field or meadow ("Robert (Lee) Frost" 2). Also author William Doreski of "American Writers" says, "if nature and human nature have the power to reduce man to a fearful sense of his own smallness, his own lost ness, in a seemingly indifferent or even malicious universe, then one suggested way to confront such fear is to imagine life stripped down to a minimum; to decide whether enough is left to go on with; then to consider the question whether the possible gains are worth the necessary cost" (Doreski 159). That statement refers to how Robert Frost uses nature to cause people to stop and think about life as a whole.

Also, Frost said, "there is "something" in the very nature of things "that doesn't love a wall, that wants it down", this represents racial discrimination, social and spiritual segregation (CLC 174). This shows how Robert Frost uses nature to explain real life issues throughout the world. Frost expresses his feelings by using nature to do so. In a poem he wrote entitled "Storm Fear", he expresses his feelings by using a man completely shocked and stunned by the powerful and scary natural forces evoking emotions such as terror, admiration, and wonder ("Robert Frost" 73). Again, in another of Frost's poems called "Mowing" a character tending to a field has thus forced a feeling of order and organization on the world ("Robert (Lee) Frost" 2). In another example of how Frost expresses himself through nature, in a poem called "A Boy's Will".

In "A Boy's Will", Frost relates moods to the changing of seasons like when autumn hits he is very happy and overjoyed (Doreski 153). In conclusion, Frost wrote many of his poems, with them having to deal with nature. He expressed his opinions and feelings through his poems. Robert Frost used nature to symbolize issues that occur throughout the world. Beacham, Walton.

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