The suffering of the world is often captivated in the work of the great poets like Robert Frost and W. H Auden. The similarities between Frost's "Design" and Auden's "Musee des Beaux Arts" include the belief that the world may be blind to human suffering and to that that causes the suffering. Apathy by the part of the human being is explained either by sheer ignorance of a greater power or by lack of time to consider the existence of such a power that controls the fate of humanity and all that is present in the world.
Robert Frost's "Design" describes plainly a picture that contains the outmost rarities in nature. "I found a dimpled spider, fat and white, / On a white heal-all, holding up a moth / Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth -"(Frost 1-4). The narrator finds a spider that is dimpled and fat as well as white. The first two adjectives are put in contrast with that which they are describing. A spider, eerie and most usually described as hairy and ugly, is here portrayed as white and almost beautiful. This spider is posed on top of a heal-all that is also white. A heal-all is a purplish blue flower and the proposition that this one must be white is a rarity in itself. Finally, the spider holds up a white moth, usually gray, for the narrator to see it flying like a piece of cloth. Frost succeed in making the reader consider the rare design that has come into play for these unusual objects to appear and to be observed by the narrator of the poem for if there is someone that arranges these little details and makes them so intricate, then there must surely be someone or something that arranges a specific design onto everything, including the lives of all human beings.
Frost then continues to shine a sinister light...
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...tion to the irremediable. As Frost fears that this designer of fate is evil and dark, Auden simply states that that which happens in the design is bound to happen, even if our backs are turned and therefore, suffering becomes no longer a rarity, but a common occurrence that takes place as we take a stroll or drink our milk in the morning. Both authors find that suffering is bound to occur in the world for faith, or perhaps God, is the master of the design and gives refuge to no one in particular.
Works Cited
Auden, W. H. "Musee des Beaux Arts." The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry, Volume 1. Jahan Ramazani, Richard Ellmann and Robert O'Clair. New York: Norton 2003. 797.
Frost, Robert. "Design." The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry, Volume 1. Jahan Ramazani, Richard Ellmann and Robert O'Clair. New York: Norton 2003. 221.
A. Robert Frost: Modern Poetics and the Landscape of Self. Durham: Duke University Press, 1998. 1975. The. 103. - 107. - 103-107. Zverev, A. "A Lover's Quarrel with the World: Robert Frost."
Mitchell, Helen Buss. "Aesthetic Experience." Roots of Wisdom: A Tapestry of Philosophical Traditions. 6th ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2011. 303-24. Print.
Meinke, Peter. “Untitled” Poetry: An Introduction. Ed. Michael Meyer. 6th ed. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin’s 2010. 89. Print
Barasch, Moshe. Modern Theories of Art, 1 From Winckelmann to Baudelaire. New York and London: New York University Press, 1990. Print.
Ferguson, Margaret W., Salter, Mary J., and Stallworthy, Jon. The Norton Anthology of Poetry. fifth ed. N.p.: W.W. Norton, 2005. 2120-2121. 2 Print.
Frost is far more than the simple agrarian writer some claim him to be. He is deceptively simple at first glance, writing poetry that is easy to understand on an immediate, superficial level. Closer examination of his texts, however, reveal his thoughts on deeply troubling psychological states of living in a modern world. As bombs exploded and bodies piled up in the World Wars, people were forced to consider not only death, but the aspects of human nature that could allow such atrocities to occur. By using natural themes and images to present modernist concerns, Frost creates poetry that both soothes his readers and asks them to consider the true nature of the world and themselves.
Strand, Mark and Evan Boland. The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms. New
Richard Wilbur's recent poem 'Mayflies' reminds us that the American Romantic tradition that Robert Frost most famously brought into the 20th century has made it safely into the 21st. Like many of Frost's short lyric poems, 'Mayflies' describes one person's encounter with an ordinary but easily overlooked piece of nature'in this case, a cloud of mayflies spotted in a 'sombre forest'(l.1) rising over 'unseen pools'(l.2),'made surprisingly attractive and meaningful by the speaker's special scrutiny of it. The ultimate attraction of Wilbur's mayflies would appear to be the meaning he finds in them. This seems to be an unremittingly positive poem, even as it glimpses the dark subjects of human isolation and mortality, perhaps especially as it glimpses these subjects. In this way the poem may recall that most persistent criticism of Wilbur's work, that it is too optimistic, too safe. The poet-critic Randall Jarrell, though an early admirer of Wilbur, once wrote that 'he obsessively sees, and shows, the bright underside of every dark thing'?something Frost was never accused of (Jarrell 332). Yet, when we examine the poem closely, and in particular the series of comparisons by which Wilbur elevates his mayflies into the realm of beauty and truth, the poem concedes something less ?bright? or felicitous about what it finally calls its 'joyful . . . task' of poetic perception and representation (l.23).
“Some say the world will end in fire,/ Some say in ice./ From what I’ve tasted of desire/ I hold with those who favor fire./ But if it had to perish twice,/ I think I know enough of hate/ To say that for destruction ice/ Is also great/ And would suffice.” This poem by Robert Frost is an excellent example of how even though people tend to think that Frost’s poems are just fun easy to read poems, a lot of them actually have dark themes to them. The poem “Fire and Ice” quoted above is a poem all about death and his prefered way to die/ destroy the world. So, although the average reader will quote Robert Frost as being a poet of positivity, yet many of his poems actually point out the dark side of human existence.
Ramazani, Jahan. Richard Ellmann, Robert O’Clair, ed. The Norton Anthology Of Modern And Contemporary Poetry. Vol 1 Modern Poetry. Third Edition. Norton. 2003.
...the unclear philosophy of the poem must also be looked at from an open-minded point of view. Applying the explanation of the poem, sentence by sentence to the semi-uncovered descriptions of the phases of life, a whole new story comes into perspective. Once studied and looked at carefully, the uncovering of each statement comes out and everything unclear and metaphorical that Frost writes is a lot easier to understand and see.
In conclusion, Robert Frost was able to captivate the minds and hearts of his readers by incorporating his love for nature into his poetry, and by having these natural images lead to a deeper truth metaphorically. After conducting the research necessary establish a research paper, it was easy to connect the events in Frost’s life to the themes and concepts of his writing. Because Frost did not necessarily associate himself with one certain literary movement, he was able to break the mold and write his own way. At first, his works were not so widely accepted, but later on, Frost accumulated the wide-spread recognition that he deserved. Frost was able to accumulate a large sum of awards, and was often thought of as the best poet of the 20th century. Today, Robert Frost is still thought of as one of the best American poets in the history of America.
Frost’s use of comparisons helps the reader to better interpret the meaning of this poem. The picture created, with his use of imagery allows the reader to view his work from various perspectives. His analogies are very pragmatic. The reader is able to relate to the speaker’s feelings. After reading this poem it gives the reader a sense of understanding why the speaker wished he could go back to his past so much.
In addition, Frost uses symbolism to illustrate that the easy decision is not always the right one to choose. Symbolism is crucial in this piece of work because Frost uses it to show his readers the difference between the two roads that the narrator needs to choose between. For example, he describes road less travele...
The vivid imagery, symbolism, metaphors make his poetry elusive, through these elements Frost is able to give nature its dark side. It is these elements that must be analyzed to discover the hidden dark meaning within Roberts Frost’s poems. Lines that seemed simple at first become more complex after the reader analyzes the poem using elements of poetry. For example, in the poem Mending Wall it appears that Robert frost is talking about two man arguing about a wall but at a closer look the reader realizes that the poem is about the things that separate man from man, which can be viewed as destructive. In After Apple Picking, the darkness of nature is present through the man wanting sleep, which is symbolic of death.