In the poems “The Wood-Pile” , “Two Tramps in Mud Time”, and “Mowing” Robert Frost explores the theme of the nature and value of work, and that manual labor functions as a tool for self-analysis, self-realization, or self-discovery. In “The Wood-Pile” the speaker is walking around a frozen swamp and comes across this woodpile which symbolizes labor. The speaker questions why whoever put in the work to make this woodpile would just leave it. The speaker makes the claim that the only explanation is if the person who left the woodpile was “turning to fresh tasks.” No one would leave their handiwork the fruits of their labor sitting so far from a place of use. For a lot of the poem the speaker is commenting on the physical aspects …show more content…
This takes a huge turn when it hits the sixth stanza “You'd think I never had felt before the weight of an ax-head poised aloft, the grip on earth of outspread feet. the life of muscles rocking soft and smooth and moist in vernal heat.” After a while of chopping this wood the speaker has a realization of how much this job actually matters. The poem goes on to talk about these men of the woods that want to take the job of chopping wood away from the speaker because they have a need for it, but the speaker has a love for it. In “The Wood-Pile” and “Two Tramps in Mud Time” the same theme is explored, however not quite in the same way. The biggest difference between the two is the tone of the poems, in “The Wood-Pile” it is very much about despair whereas in “Two Tramps in Mud Time” the realization is about how much the speaker loves this work. Another difference between the two poems is that in one the realization is about the work while in the other it is not exactly known what the despair is
Lentricchia, Frank. Robert Frost: Modern Poetics and the Landscape of Self. Durham: Duke University Press. 1975. 103-107.
Written by Edward Ward and published in 1706, the Wooden World Dissected explains the inside of a ship that most people do not get to see. The ship and the people in it are supposed to represent the makeup of the Royal Navy. He begins the book with a letter explaining how he wants to inform the reader with more information than they could get from looking at a picture. This leads the reader to believe that he is going to write a book full of dull facts, however he writes a satire. He describes everyone, from the Sea Captain all the way down the ladder to the common sailor. He uses comparisons, descriptions of relationships and character, and his own voice to paint a picture of a life aboard a ship in the mid fifteenth to early sixteenth century.
Instructor Mendoza English 1B 22 July 2015. Robert Frost: Annotated Bibliography. Research Question: What are the common themes in Robert Frost's work? Robert Frost is a very successful poet from the 20th century, as well as a four time Pulitzer Prize winner.
In the eulogy that President John F. Kennedy gave for the lately departed poet, Robert Frost, only three out of the four common elements that Kunkel and Dennis found in eulogies can be found in this specific eulogy. The elements I found in this eulogy are positive reappraisal, praise, and problem-focused coping while self-disclosure of emotion, credibility, affirmation of vivid past relationships, and continuation of interactive bonds could not be found. John Kennedy imminently starts off with a positive reappraisal: “Robert Frost was one of the granite figures of our time in America. He was supremely two things—an artist and an American,” (lines 3-4). Kennedy is telling the thousands listening that Robert Frost not only had a good life but
Robert Frost is considered by many to be one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century. Frost’s work has been regarded by many as unique. Frost’s poems mainly take place in nature, and it is through nature that he uses sense appealing-vocabulary to immerse the reader into the poem. In the poem, “Hardwood Groves”, Frost uses a Hardwood Tree that is losing its leaves as a symbol of life’s vicissitudes. “Frost recognizes that before things in life are raised up, they must fall down” (Bloom 22).
The "persona" narratives from the book - "Mending Wall," "After Apple-Picking," and "The Wood-Pile" - also strive for inclusiveness although they are spoken throughout by a voice we are tempted to call "Frost." This voice has no particular back-country identity, nor is it obsessed or limited in its point of view; it seems rather to be exploring nature, other people, ideas, ways of saying things, for the sheer entertainment they can provide. Unlike poems such as "Home Burial" and "A Servant to Servants," which are inclined toward the tragic or the pathetic, nothing "terrible" happens in the personal narratives, nor does some ominous secret lie behind them. In "The Wood-Pile," for example, almost nothing happens at all; its story, its achieved idea or wisdom, the whole air with which it carries itself, is quite unmemorable. A man out walking in a frozen swamp decides to turn back, then decides instead to go farther and see what will happen. He notes a bird in front of him and spends some time musing on what the bird must be thinking, then sees it settle behind a pile of wood. The pile is described so as to bring out the fact that it has been around for some time. With a reflection about whoever it was who left it there, "far from a useful fireplace," the poem concludes. And the reader looks up from the text, wonders if he has missed something, perhaps goes back and reads it again to see if he can catch some meaning which has eluded him. But "The Wood-Pile" remains stubbornly unyielding to any attempt at ransacking it for a meaning not evidently on the surface.
The poem begins in an action. The persona is observing his ladder still, “sticking through a tree,” (After, 535) while making the decision to not pick the remaining apples from the orchard. He then tells of a tiredness that has grasped him since seeing the first ice of winter on his drinking trough. The persona worries for the state of his dreams when he, inevitably, falls asleep. On the brink of sleep he
It is clear that the narrator enjoys cutting wood from the start of the poem. He is not doing it for pay, just for his own enjoyment. While he is chopping, he pauses to take in the sights of the day. He begins to notice every detail, even the smaller ones, such as the weather and the wildlife surrounding him. It is in these observations that he is showing how he seizes the day. Choosing to cut wood during his free time, gives him time to stop and look at the things people often ignore when focused on a task.
At the outset of the poem, the narrator gives a very superficial view of himself, almost seeming angered when one of the tramps interferes with his wood chopping: "one of them put me off my aim". This statement, along with many others, seems to focus on "me" or "my", indicating the apparrent selfishness and arrogance of the narrator: "The blows that a life of self-control/Spares to strike for the common good/That day, giving a loose to my soul,/I spent on the unimportant wood." The narrator refers to releasing his suppressed anger not upon evils that threaten "the common good", but upon the "unimportant wood". The appparent arrogance of the narrator is revealed as well by his reference to himself as a Herculean figure standing not alongside nature, but over it: "The grip on earth of outspread feet,/The life of muscles rocking soft/And smooth and moist in vernal heat."
This paper is about “After Apple Picking,” by Robert Frost, from the perspectives of Carl Phillips and Priscilla Paton. I would like to focus more on Carl Phillips discussion of “After Apple Picking” as his article has more focus on an actual argument on what “After Apple Picking” is about compared to Paton’s article which is more about how Frost went about writing his poems though his usage of metaphors and vague colloquialisms . Neither article was solely about “After Apple Picking,” but both had a few good observations and comments about the poem. Phillips main observation, and argument, was that “After Apple Picking” was about restlessness and ambition. “It’s a poem of restlessness, the restlessness of an ambition that spurs us towards greater achievement.” (Phillips 134).
"Stopping by Woods" The visible sign of the poet's preoccupation is the recurrent image of dark woods and trees. The world of the woods, a world offering perfect quiet and solitude, exists side by side with the realization that there is also another world, a world of people and social obligations. Both worlds have claims on the poet. He stops by woods on this "darkest evening of the year" to watch them "fill up with snow," and lingers so long that his "little horse" shakes his harness bells "to ask if there is some mistake." The poet is put in mind of the "promises" he has to keep, of the miles he still must travel. We are not told, however, that the call of social responsibility proves stronger than the attraction of the woods, which are "lovely" as well as "dark and deep"; the poet and his horse have not moved on at the poem's end. The dichotomy of the poet's obligations both to the woods and to a world of "promises"--the latter filtering like a barely heard echo through the almost hypnotic state induced by the woods and falling snow-is what gives this poem its singular interest.... The artfulness of "Stopping by Woods" consists in the way the two worlds are established and balanced. The poet is aware that the woods by which he is stopping belong to someone in the village; they are owned by the world of men. But at the same time they are his, the poet's woods, too, by virtue of what they mean to him in terms of emotion and private signification.
The diction that the author chooses to use also emphasizes the meaning of the poem. The structure of the poem is one long running stanza, rather than it being broken into multiple stanzas. The poem also does not contain any sort of rhyme scheme either. This could indicate an underlying meaning of what work is and what it is like trying to find work. Especially for people who work full-time at their jobs, it is one long and tiring day working with not much time for fun or creativity. The lack of a rhyme scheme relating to the fact that there is not really any room for pleasure or for being a having a creative mind; it is more geared to indicate that people should clock in, do their job, and clock out. As for diction, the word, “waiting” (lines 2, 6, 18, and 20) is mentioned quite a few times, showing how waiting is also a big part of finding a job or working. There is a lot of waiting involved in finding a job. Waiting for a call back for a job opportunity, or something like waiting until instead of receiving a, “No, we’re not hiring today” (lines 20-21), there is a, “Yes, we have many opportunities available right now.” While being employed, employees wait for their final hour of their shift, waiting for their next promotion, or waiting for their next paycheck, in which they will put all of it to the house and family. This further proves to add to the idea
Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” provide us contrasting and sometimes similar glimpses of life. “The Road Not Taken” is about taking control and living life. “Stopping by Woods on Snowy Evening” entails the desire for rest, perhaps due to the speaker’s feelings of weariness from facing life’s struggles. The poet also explains the tough choices people stand before when traveling the road of life. Sometimes people regret the possibilities of the road not chosen, sometimes people feel proud about the road they have chosen.
These aspects help the speaker escape from reality. The snow symbolizes the purity and peacefulness the speaker feels while stopping in the woods. (4) The darkness can symbolize many different things. Some times darkness would be considered evil or dangerous, but I do not think this is the case in this poem. I believe the darkness symbolizes the undisturbed atmosphere of the woods.
Richardson, Mark. The Ordeal of Robert Frost: The Poet and His Poetics. Urbana: University of Illinois, 1997. Print.