What Does A Frog's Fate Mean

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A Frog's Fate by Christina Rossetti: Explication As a child, most do not realize the origins of the nursery rhymes they sing such as London Bridge is Falling Down, Ring Around the Rosie, or Three Blind Mice. They are blissfully ignorant to the fact that these poems may have darker meanings. Christina Rossetti wrote many poems for children; likewise, her poems could have a deeper meaning depending on how the reader interprets them. “A Frog’s Fate” appears to be about an ambitious frog whose dreams are cut short when he is suddenly run over by a waggon. Although it may seem like a simple story, a lesson can be learned by the frog and waggoner’s actions. Christina Rossetti's "A Frog's Fate" is about a man whose dreams blind him from reality …show more content…

Rossetti uses words like “great”and “large-souled” to describe this person who is depicted as a frog. It is clear to see he detest his life at his home, for the narrator says he is “Contemptuous of his home beyond/ The village and the village-pond,”. Also, the person felt mighty and hopeful as it says:
Nor grunting pig nor barking dog
Could disconcert so great a Frog.
The morning dew was lingering yet,
His sides to cool, his tongue to wet (5-8)
The character has a dream he is confident he will achieve, but lines 9-10 show his family does not think so, stating: “The night-dew, when the night should come,/ A travelled Frog would send him home(9-10).” Still, the hypothetical frog leaves home, and soon after setting out he is struck by a waggon:
Not so, alas! The wayside grass
Sees him no more: not so, alas!
A broad-wheeled waggon unawares
Ran him down, his joys, his cares.(11-14)
The person’s life being analyzed in the poem has expectations in life that blind him to reality. He is so focused on the future and his dream that he can not see what is right in front of him; in the frog’s case it was a waggon. This person was not actually killed, just their dreams. The beginning of “A Frog’s Fate” uses imagery to show how people should not let their dreams blind them from thinking rationally and what is currently happening around …show more content…

He was confident that he was destined to do great things in life and thought he was unstoppable. This is the mindset of the person, or metaphorical frog, in the poem. He becomes too confident and forgets that there are limitations in life. While his dreams cause him to be unable to see it before, once they are destroyed, he sees things differently. When before he described the highway as “imperial”, he now says it is “hideous”. Now he yearns for his old life, as he says, “Oh for my old familiar byeway(21)!” Ultimately, losing everything allows him to realize his dreams had clouded his

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