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In 1885, the dying request of his father took Frost back to Massachusetts for the burial. Since Frost couldn’t afford to travel back to California, Frost remained there and began his writing. Frost led a simple life. He taught, was a New England farmer, worked in a mill, was a reporter, and wrote. He graduated as valedictorian in High School in 1892 and attended Dartmouth College, but quit shortly after he started. Two years later he sold his first work “My Butterfly: An Elegy” and later that year he married Elinor White. He attempted school again at Harvard but left before getting his degree. The next 10 years he wrote poems and worked small jobs throughout New Hampshire. In 1912 he moved his wife and four kids to England to work on poetry full time. “A Boy’s Will” and “North of Boston” became a instant success in Europe and in 1915 he moved to America. “North of Boston” was reissued in America and became a best seller. Frost used the money from it to buy a farm in New Hampshire, where some of his most successful poems were written (“American Writers“ 152). Frost’s poems are full of so many strong themes and richer meanings than nature, but most Frost fans prefer his modest feelings toward nature. The images he creates are so vivid and simplistic the common reader can visualize the New England fields, farms, roadsides and forest (“American Writers” 169). This simplicity disguises the poems deep meanings and allows the reader to develop the writing’s significance. The easiness of his writings though criticized by critics, appeal to the common man (US Literature 509). Once in a interview Frost was asked about his thought process during writing. He said: “I sometimes speak from the last thing that happen to me. I was asked today if I think up my poems. I pick up a lot of things I thought of to make a poem, that is a lot of scattered thoughts through the days that are handy for the poem. That’s where the thinking comes in.” He just thought up poems in his head and wrote them down, not even a rough draft (Lathem 41). I will discuss two other writers. Their comparison with Frost will help display what opinion Frost is writing from in his poems. Robert Frost’s favorite poet was Mathew Arnold, but Frost disagreed with his belief in nature. Arnold expressed his opinion in “In Harmony with Nature” (Brooks 1). Arnold’s arrogance of man over nature was stated in the last two lines of his poem. The last lines basically insulted anyone who would attempt to have a friendship with nature. According to Arnold, if man can’t surpass nature, then man is nothing but a slave to nature. Frost knew very well the relationship between human nature and nature, and disagreed with Arnold. Frost thought Arnold’s opinion was too harsh and Frost’s ideas on nature were slightly more compassionate. Frost believed that nature and man are totally separate (Brooks 2). Many times in his poetry he remarked that nature doesn’t think man even exists. Like “The Need of Being Versed in Country Things” a man’s house burns down. The man now has no shelter, no water, nothing at all. Frost compares a bird’s mumbling chirp as a cry of sympathy for the man, but Frost later states why would a bird care if a man lost his home. The bird perches on a wire most of the day. The bird doesn’t have a water pump delivering water to it’s home and it must go out and find the water (Brooks 4). Also, in “Come In” the speaker hears the thrashing of bushes from the woods and interprets it as a invitation to join mother nature in the forest. However this meaning quickly changes and the speaker realizes mother nature hasn’t even noticed the man walking by (Brooks 5). Frost had another encounter with a young writer named Wade Van Dore. Dore was a student in college and was seeking Frost’s help in publishing a volume of poems. Frost had a problem with Van Dore’s poem “The Echo”, by calling it too sentimental. The poem was about a man crying in the wilderness looking for love, but instead of love the man is hit by a buck crashing from out of the bushes (the buck represents physical passion) (Thompson, “Encouraging...” 360). Frost says it would help to look in the right places for love. Frost criticized the message expressed in the poem and told Van Dore not to ask nature what it can’t do. Nature produces what it produces. Frost didn’t like the poem because the speaker in the poem couldn’t accept the loneliness of wilderness life, something that Frost liked best (Thompson, “Encouraging...” 361). Frost responded to “The Echo” with “The Most of It.” In this poem he discusses the most, that man can expect from nature (Thompson, “Encouraging...” 362). “Once by the Pacific” was of memories Frost had as a little boy living in California. The setting is Cliff House beach outside San Francisco around 1880 (Cook 142). This poem follows the usual methodology of Frost’s poems. The poem begins with the observation of nature, then personal opinions, and concluding with a universal idea. Frost’s writing in this poem not only created an explicit image but the splattering and crashing of waves can be heard. Each event in this play is a buildup to the climax in the last line. The scene is of late-afternoon waves beating against a cliff under a cloudy sky. As the speaker gazes out from the shore he sees the stormy clouds producing bigger and bigger waves, as the waves are crashing against the shore. The poem says if the shore wasn’t backed by the cliff then the water would be running over it and the cliff has the continent to back it (Cook 143). The speaker seems to be relaxing on the cliff enjoying the sounds of the wave. But as the scene gets stormier and angrier so does the man. Frost is comparing the psychological problems of the man with the nature that is going on. One could say the clashing waves represent the man’s thoughts building up within him. The shoreline, cliff, and continent could represent the man’s emotional problems. The landforms are blocking the waves like their blocking the speakers mind (Cook 144). Then the approaching clouds and dark night shift the mood of the poem and the speaker goes from relaxing to anger. This turning point in the poem is represented by the rage of the clouds. The cliff and continent can symbolize obstacles in life, and too many obstacles in someone’s life can lead to anger and confusion (Cook 145). The voice of the poem is most important in building and changing the story in preparation for the end of the poem. Like when the “hanging clouds” approach so does the voice of the poem from peaceful to rage. The nature’s elements personify the speaker’s emotions and shift from someone’s breaking point to angriest point (Cook 146). This poem is a great example of Frost’s use of nature in his poetry. In Frost’s “West-Running Brook” he applied the contrary’s of nature to the characters in his poetry in order in evoke a response in the reader and supply a universal theme. There is a West Running Brook in New Hampshire and Frost saw it when he lived there between 1900 and 1912 (“American Writers” 163). Lynen says, “The thematic idea behind “West-Running Brook” is that life, whether in its most primitive form or in man himself, originates in an instinct of resistance, in a thrusting backward...” the thrusting backward losing but always gaining a little (Lynen, “The Early...” 122). The story begins as a young, newly married couple are walking by this brook and notice it’s flowing west, which is different from the other brooks flowing east toward the ocean. They know eventually the stream must turn left. This contrary flow of water can be compared to other things in nature (“American Writers” 150). The woman tells the husband she trusts him the way the brooks trusts it’s contrary’s. She’s possible referring to their faults and how they love each other no matter what. They notice an object beneath the water causes a wave to rise against the current of the water and flow east. The situation of the water humors the farmer. This backward wave against a backward brook appeals to the farmer as symbolizing life itself. The free spirited wife sees the backward wave as a human wave, waving to her letting her know it hears them. This “backward motion toward the source” is continued through the play. The married couple’s conversation turns into a friendly argument. The husband teases the wife that the water would actually wave to her. Though the husband pokes fun of his wife about the water waving there’s no harm in thinking something so beautiful might be listening to her and actually waving at her. In fact, this positive outlook on things might seem better than the husband’s honesty ( Squires 98). Finally, the loving husband and wife come to an agreement that both of their interpretations of the water are correct. The “backward motion toward the source” could be interpreted in a religious concept. The source representing God and the backward flow of water meaning the peoples lack of religion in their lives. However, a more general theme for the poem could be that though, in nature, many things run down, there will always be a counter drift that recreates and sends up a little. Even though it may only send back a little the meaning remains just as important (Cook 99). Poem after poem Frost applied nature to the characters in his poems. His firsthand view of the natural wonders of this world helped him express the beauty and intricate meanings in human life. Frost was a simple man who wrote for the common man. His appeal to the people gave him recognition as the best American poet of the 20th century. His awards included three-dozen honorary degrees, four Pulitzer Prizes, the Bollingen Prize for Poetry, and he even spoke at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy. Frost’s dedication and love of writing has gave the world some of the greatest poetry ever that will never be forgotten. Bibliography: Bibliographies 1. American Writers. New York: Subscribers, 1998. pp 150-171 2. Brooks, Cleanth, ed. Robert Frost The Man and The Poet. Arkansas: University Publishing Associates, 1990. pp 1-17 Call number: PS 3511 3. Cook, Reginald. The Dimensions of Robert Frost. Boston: Little, Brown Publishers, 1964. pp 142-146 4. Lathem, Edward, ed. Interviews with Robert Frost. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. 1966. pp 41 Call number: PS 3511 5. Lynen, John. The Pastoral Art of Robert Frost. New York: NA, 1969. pp 122-124, 140, 147-148 and 158 6. Squires, Radcliff. “West-Running Brook”, The Major Themes of Robert Frost. Michigan: The University of Michigan, 1963. pp 97-103 and 86-87 Call number: PS 3511 7. Thompson, Lawrence, “Encouraging Younger Poets.” Robert Frost The Years of Triumph. New York: Twayne Publishers,1967. pp 360-362 8. Thompson, Lawrence. Robert Frost: The Early Years. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1966. pp 381-382 and 570 9. U.S. Literature. Glenview: Scott, Foresman, and Company, 1991. pp 509 Robert Frost’s Use of Nature Thesis: Robert Frost, an American poet of the late 19th century, used nature in many of his writings. Frost was very observant of nature, he often used it too represent the emotion of his characters in his poetry. Introduction I. Frost’s feelings on nature A. Overview B. Contrast with Mathew Arnold C. Contrast with Wade Van Dore II. “Once by the Pacific” III “West-Running Brook” Conclusion Word Count: 1803
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