Exploring the Nature Poetry

Exploring the Nature Poetry

Nature poetry focuses on nature as its subject. The genre of nature

poetry shows us the importance and beauty of nature in the world

today. Different poets use nature poetry to different affect. Two such

poet are Seamus Heaney and Robert Frost. These poets’ nature poems are

widely recognized and very popular. Frost uses his nature scenes to

show us the relationship between mankind and nature whereas Heaney

uses his nature scenes to depict the realism of everyday life.

Robert Frost was born on March 26th 1874 in San Francisco; in 1882 he

dropped out of school and was educated at home. After his father’s

death the family moved to New Hampshire where Frost and his sister

attended school. His first published poem “La Noche Triste” appears in

the Lawrence High School Bulletin in April. In 1894 he published a

poem in the independent- “My Butterfly In Eloy”. After accepting an

offer to teach he moved his family to Plymouth, England. His first

book “ A Boys Will” was published April 1915. In 1924 frost was

awarded the Pulitzer Prize for “ A Further Range”. In 1939 he was

awarded the prestigious Gold Medal by the National Institute of Arts

and Letters in New York. His health began to deteriorate as his

eyesight worsened. In 1962 he fell seriously ill. He died on January

1963.

In Frost’s poetry we see the link he creates between nature and

mankind. He shows us through his poetry that although humans often

think they are superior to nature this is not the case. Having read

many of Frost’s poems we see many individual messages in them. In

“Birches” we learn about the attitude that must be adopted to life and

that we learn to live life through what we learn about nature. In

“After Apple-Picking” we learn that you should always take

opportunities because missed opportunities will haunt you. I have

chosen to take an in-depth look at Frosts poem “Mending Wall”. I feel

this poem is the best example of his message and style.