Love and Nature in the Poems of Robert Frost

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“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I- / I took the one less traveled by, / And that has made all the difference.” (Frost 697) Robert Frost was a unique writer of the 20th century. In his poems “Nothing Gold Can Stay” "Birches" "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" "Fire and Ice" and "Mending Wall" Robert Frost explores the theme of nature, and the human emotion love.

Robert Frost is considered a humanist and is one of the most well-known American poets. “If the United States ever adopted a national poet, chances are it would be Robert Frost. By the time Frost died in 1963 at the age of 88, an admiring public had all but carved his face on Mount Rushmore. His poetry was beloved. Frost earned the Pulitzer Prize a record four times. Though he never graduated from college, more than forty universities and colleges have awarded him honorary degrees. Not only was Frost tapped to speak at the inauguration of John F. Kennedy, but the handsome young President-elect was actually worried that the crowd would be more interested in the august poet than in him.” (Shmoop Editorial Team).

Frost cannot be defined into one category, or era, but the recurring themes in his poems would be nature and love. “Frost stood right at the crossroads of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He does not fit neatly into any one era. He was one of the first poets to advocate for individualism in language, before the idea was fashionable—in 1920,” (Shmoop Editorial Team).

“In the typical spring poems, like "Nothing Gold Can Stay," dawn goes down, or falls, to day, reminding us in its beauty mainly of its transience”(Baym 717). “Nothing Gold Can Stay” is a beautiful poem about nature. The poem goes into much detail about the changing colors. There ar...

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...Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2011. 697. Print.

Frost, Robert. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” “Portable Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing.” 7th ed. Kirszner, Laurie G., and Stephen R. Mandell. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2011. 655-56. Print.

Frost, Robert. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”“Sound and Sense: an Introduction to Poetry.” 8th ed. Perrine, Laurence, and Thomas R. Arp. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College, 1992. 133-34. Print.

Harris, Kathryn G. "Language and Form in "Nothing Gold Can Stay"" Robert Frost: Studies of the Poetry. With an Introd. Boston, MA: Hall, 1979. Print.

Little, Michael R., and Harold Bloom. "Nothing Gold Can Stay." Bloom's How to Write about

Robert Frost. New York: Bloom's Literary Criticism, 2010. Print.

"Robert Frost: Biography." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 2008. Web. 27 Apr 2011.

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