Figurative Language, Nature and Vacation in The Mountain by Robert Frost

725 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The road not taken, by robert frost metaphor

Figurative language, nature and vacation are all apart of Robert Frost poem “The Mountain.” Frost uses numberless similes and metaphors comparing different things throughout the poem. The mountains in the poem are compared to the wall for a sense of protection in this poem. Nature is included in just about all of Frost poems. Nature in this poem is used with the mountains and the lakes. Another theme that is included in this poem is vacation. The speaker is on a trip, that he seems not to enjoy but then at the top of the mountain he finds a fountain that he never sees and now wants to visit.
Figurative language is something that is included in all types of writing. The mountain is so big that the shadow in this poem can overcast the whole town. In this poem by Frost he uses many similes and metaphors that compare and contrast the mountain to a wall. Line 4 support the fact of the shadow covering the town. Lines 5 and 6 shows one of the comparisons, that make it seems as if the mountains are protecting the town from danger. The mountain seems to be protecting the town from danger but in reality it is not.
The Figurative language of simile that Frost uses throughout the poem compares one main thing that is shown in the beginning of the poem which is the shadow to a wall. A wall is something that can protect, hold up, keep things held in place, keep things from entering and leaving the area. The mountain in this case is used as a protection from the wind in this case of story.
The wall may seem as if it is protecting the town from danger but later in the poem it shows to be different. Lines 22 and 23 seems as if the wall does not do a good job of protecting the town from the wind at night. The wind seems to be felt and the only thi...

... middle of paper ...

... way around or know nothing of the landscape. Line 21 of the poem uses the word “Sojourn” Which in this case means temporary stay. The speaker is not in a permanent place to live. It could be take as the speaker is on vacation or the speaker is living there but he plans on moving.
The mountain by Robert Frost is a poem that is about nature and journeys and within that is a lot of figurative language. The figurative language of the poem puts it all together to compare it to elements of nature and man made things. For example the mountain acting as a wall, but yet it is only the shadow. Then again this Frost poem does not has to be made into anything complex, it could just be Frost on a vacation and he is comparing and contrasting everything he has learned. All of the things taken out of the poem comes together to get Frost use of nature elements doing man made jobs.

Show More
Related

  • Why Does Robert Frost Use Of Personification

    103 Words  | 1 Pages

    Frost uses quite a bit of personification throughout the poem to give the sky and ocean human like traits. The use of this literary device helps embody the meaning of the poem. The first use of personification is seen in the second and third line “Great waves looked over others coming in/ and thought of doing something to the shore”. This illustrates how the waves were smashing upon each other and getting larger and larger than the ones before. The personification of the waves in line three, suggest that the waves have an actual mind of their and shall do what they wish.

    Read More

  • Analogies in The Mountain by Robert Frost

    1160 Words  | 3 Pages

    Personification is an important theme throughout this poem. In lines 1-2 it says, “The mountain held the town as in a shadow I saw so much before I slept there once:.” Also in lines 3-4 it says, “I noticed that I missed stars in the west, where its black body cut into the sky.” This is an example of personification. In lines 5-6 it says, Near me it seemed: I felt it like a wall behind which i was sheltered from a wind.” Most of the examples showing personification in this poem, are displayed in the first couple of lines of the poem.

    Read More

  • The Intricate Meanings of Robert Frost 's Poetry

    777 Words  | 2 Pages

    Robert Frost wrote poetry about nature and it is that nature that he used as symbols for life lessons. Many critics have been fascinated by the way that Frost could get so many meanings of life out of nature itself. Frost‘s poetry appeals to almost everyone because of his uncanny ability to tie in with many things that one is too familiar with and for many, that is life in itself. “Perhaps that is what keeps Robert Frost so alive today, even people who have never set foot in Vermont, in writing about New England, Frost is writing about everywhere” (294).

    Read More

  • Analysis of Mending Wall by Robert Frost

    398 Words  | 1 Pages

    It describes how the conservative farmer follows traditions blindly and the isolated life followed by him. It reflects how people make physical barriers and that later in life come to their social life too. Where neighbor with pine tree, believes that this separation is needed as it is essential for their privacy and personal life. The poem explores a paradox in human nature. The first few lines reflect demolition of the wall, ?Something there is that doesn?t reflect love a wall? this reflects that nature itself does not like separation. The "something" referring to the intangible sense of social interaction. Furthermore "that sends the frozen-ground-swell under it" refers to Frost or to the author. Although the narrator does not want the wall, ironically, the mending of the wall brings the neighbors together and literally builds their friendship. An additional irony of the poem is that the only time these two neighbors sees each other is when they both mend the wall. The narrator sees the stubbornness in his neighbor, and uses the simile 'like an old-stone savage' to compare him to a stone-age man who 'moves in darkness', that is, set in his ways, and who is unlikely to change his views.

    Read More

  • The Tragic Impermanence of Youth in Robert Frost's Nothing Gold Can Stay

    902 Words  | 2 Pages

    Frost uses a religious allusion to further enforce the objective of the poem. Whether Frost's argument is proven in a religious or scientific forum, it is nonetheless true. In directly citing these natural occurrences from inanimate, organic things such as plants, he also indirectly addresses the phenomena of aging in humans, in both physical and spiritual respects. Literally, this is a poem describing the seasons. Frosts interpretation of the seasons is original in the fact that it is not only autumn that causes him grief, but summer.

    Read More

  • Use Of Diction In Acquainted With The Night

    1202 Words  | 3 Pages

    The night is a symbol for dark moments of solitude during the speaker’s life. Through being “acquainted with the night” (line 1), the speaker is saying that he is familiar with darkness, proving how symbolism brings out a detached tone with the help of diction, saying that isolated darkness is something the speaker experiences regularly. The exertion of the night as symbolism creates an image for readers to realize that Frost did not actually mean nighttime in his poem; he used the night as symbolism to provide deeper insight and bring the image of our own dark times to describe as “the night”(line 1) just as the speaker of “Acquainted With the Night” did. Symbolism goes on to present itself in line 2, the “rain” is used as a symbol for tears and melancholy. The rain was not meant to be read literally, but rather symbolically as tears, or times of mourning over the harsh struggles in life, just as the speaker did when he “walked out in rain and back in rain” (line 2) meaning he walked into and out of life’s struggles. If the weather is cold and rainy, no one goes outside because of the gloomy clouds and cold rain. Similarly, no one reached out to the speaker in “Acquainted With the Night” during his gloomy periods of “rain”(line 2) or sadness, which expresses

    Read More

  • Analysis of Out, Out by Robert Frost

    918 Words  | 2 Pages

    Frost uses different stylistic devices throughout this poem. He is very descriptive using things such as imagery and personification to express his intentions in the poem. Frost uses imagery when he describes the setting of the place. He tells his readers the boy is standing outside by describing the visible mountain ranges and sets the time of day by saying that the sun is setting. Frost gives his readers an image of the boy feeling pain by using contradicting words such as "rueful" and "laugh" and by using powerful words such as "outcry". He also describes the blood coming from the boy's hand as life that is spilling. To show how the boy is dying, Frost gives his readers an image of the boy breathing shallowly by saying that he is puffing his lips out with his breath.

    Read More

  • Analysis of Birches by Robert Frost

    808 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the poem Birches by Robert Frost, Frost portrays the images of a child growing to adulthood through the symbolism of aging birch trees. Through these images readers are able to see the reality of the real world compared to their carefree childhood. The image of life through tribulation is the main focal point of the poem and the second point of the poem is if one could revert back to the simpler times of childhood. The language of the poem is entirely arranged through images, although it contains some diction it lacks sound devices, metaphors, and similes compared to other published works by Frost.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of 'The Mending Wall' By Robert Frost

    1164 Words  | 3 Pages

    The poem itself is a technique Robert Frost uses to convey his ideas. Behind the literal representation of building walls, there is a deeper metaphoric meaning, which reflects people's attitudes towards others. It reflects the social barriers people build, to provide a sense of personal security and comfort, in the belief that barriers are a source of protection which will make people less vulnerable to their fears. Robert Frost's ideas are communicated strongly through the perspective of the narrator in the poem, the 'I' voice, who questions the need for barriers. The use of conversation and the thoughts of the narrator reflect the poet's own thoughts. In line thirty to line thirty-five, the narrator questions the purpose of a wall. He has an open disposition and does not understand the need to 'wall in' or 'wall out' anything or anyone.

    Read More

  • Metaphors In Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken

    1157 Words  | 3 Pages

    The first metaphor Frost uses in this poem can actually be found in the first line: “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood.” The two roads splitting in the woods is a metaphor for a choice you must make when presented with two different options. Wherever the speaker’s life has taken him so far, he has come to the point where he must make an important decision to go any further (Schmoop). The second metaphor Frost uses can be found in lines four and five: “And looked down one as far as I could / To where it bent in the undergrowth.” Looking down the road is a metaphor for the future; when making a decision, we can only predict so much. Just like how the speaker can only see the path in the woods for so far we can only see the consequences of our decision in the near future. A third metaphor can be found in lines 13 through 15: “ Oh, I kept the first for another day! / Yet knowing how way leads on to way, / I doubted if I should ever come back.” Here, it’s clear the speaker wanted to take both roads; however, he realizes that he will probably never be able to come back to this crossroads. This is a metaphor for a decision that changes everything; a decision you have made where you have reached a point of no

    Read More

  • An Analysis of Robert Frost's Once by the Pacific

    864 Words  | 2 Pages

    Although this poem also is connected with nature, the theme is more universal in that it could be related to Armageddon, or the end of the world. Even though this theme may seem simple, it is really complex because we do not know how Frost could possibly relate to the events leading to the end of the world. It is an "uncertain" and sometimes controversial topic, and even if everyone was certain it was coming, we do not know exactly how it will occur and when. Therefore, how did Frost envision this event? Is he portraying it in a religious context, a naturalistic one, or both? The last line (14) speaks of God putting out the light, which brings out a religious reference, but the bulk of the poem deals with nature entirely. Physical images of water, clouds, continents, and cliffs present a much more complex setting than the simple setting in "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" or the yellow wood in "The Road Not Taken."

    Read More

  • Walls Placed on Relationships in Mending Wall by Robert Frost

    846 Words  | 2 Pages

    Frost begins the poem by relating the damage that has been inflicted upon the wall. The stunning image of the force "that sends the frozen-ground-swell under it and spills the upper boulders in the sun, and makes gaps even two can pass abreast" shows us that something natural, beautiful, and perhaps divine is taking place (2-4). From the very beginning he suggests that living without the wall is something positive. As the poem continues, we are introduced to two farmers engaged in the annual task of making repairs to the stone wall which separates their properties. In lines 14-17, Frost gives us the description of the neighbors meeting to walk the line, each picking up and r...

    Read More

  • Robert Frost Uses Imagery and Analogy in His Poem, Birches

    1052 Words  | 3 Pages

    Nature is an important theme in every frost poem. Nature usually symbolizes age or other things throughout Frost’s poems. In lines 5-10 it says, “Often you must have seen them loaded with ice a sunny winter morning after a rain. They click upon themselves as the breeze rises, and turn many-colored as the stir cracks and crazes their enamel. Soon the sun’s warmth makes them shed crystal shells.” This demonstrates how nature can sometimes symbolize something. Also in lines 29-33 it says, “ By riding them down over and over again until he took the stiffness out of them, and not one but hung limp, not one was left for him to conquer. He learned all there was to learn about not launching too soon.” In lines 44-48 it says, And life is too much like a pathless wood where your face burns and tickles with the cobwebs broken across it, and one eye is weeping from a twig’s having lashed across it open. I’d like to get away from earth for a while.”

    Read More

  • The Dark Side of Robert Frost’s Nature

    2355 Words  | 5 Pages

    Robert Frost is known for his poems about nature, he writes about trees, flowers, and animals. This is a common misconception, Robert Frost is more than someone who writes a happy poem about nature. The elements of nature he uses are symbolic of something more, something darker, and something that needs close attention to be discovered. Flowers might not always represent beauty in Robert Frost’s poetry. Symbolism is present in every line of the nature’s poet’s poems. The everyday objects present in his poems provide the reader an alternative perspective of the world. Robert Frost uses all the elements of poetry to describe the darker side of nature. After analyzing the Poem Mending Wall and After Apple Picking it is clear that nature plays a dark and destructive role for Robert Frost. This dark side of Frost’s poetry could have been inspired from the hard life he lived.

    Read More

  • The Theme of Nature in Robert Frost's Poetry

    392 Words  | 1 Pages

    Second, in the poem “Once by the Pacific” there is a lot of nature expressed. Frost changes his nature view from woods to water.

    Read More

More about Figurative Language, Nature and Vacation in The Mountain by Robert Frost

Open Document