Comparing Nature, The Gentlest Mother By Robert Frost And Emily Dickinson

“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” -Albert Einstein

Nature, by definition, is the phenomena of the physical world collectively. It has been described as everything from a loving mother to a ferocious beast. It can be intertwined with notions of love and heartbreak, or it can be simply what it is; life on this planet. Robert Frost and Emily Dickinson are two very influential poets who often talked about nature and love, though their styles are vastly different. There are many things about them that are similar, however they have stark differences as well. Nature, the Gentlest Mother, by Emily Dickinson promotes a feeling of love and protection, whereas To Earthward by Robert Frost has a feeling of a full

The theme in To Earthward is about the change of feeling throughout life and the difference between old and young. Frost paints a picture of how feelings change when you get older saying “I craved strong sweets, but those seemed strong when I was young.” (line 13 and 14). What he is saying in this line is that he has grown numb to the feeling and longs for it again. He is saying that he wished he had cherished the experiences he had when he was a young boy. The phrase “The hurt is not enough: I long for weight and strength” (line 29 and 30) seems to me that he misses the way he felt when he was young, strong and heavy. In contrast, the theme in Nature, the Gentlest Mother is how nature loves all of her “children” and protects even the most minute creatures. Dickinson states it outright in the first stanza saying “Nature, the gentlest mother, impatient of no child” (line 1 and 2). The metaphor of nature being a mother is obviously present throughout the whole passage, hence the title, but it displays the love a person shows to nature as well. These themes are connotative of each other in the way that they present how love makes you