Robert Frost Flashcards
What does Frost’s poetry deal with?
Highlights various concerns of life through a metaphorical, vividly descriptive and symbolical style.
Contemporary and unique
Offers a critical opportunity to experience the many facets of the human spirit in a deep and philosophical way.
Key words to describe experience of reading Frost’s work
Thoroughly enjoyable Simple language Accessible Highly profound Metaphorical Vividly descriptive Symbolical style Deeply affecting Engaging Immediately understandable Philosophical
THE ROAD NOT TAKEN
1 line summary
THEMES
Is a narrative, autobiographical poem which is a symbolic representation of life’s choices.
The nuance of decision making
Nature
Choices
THE ROAD NOT TAKEN
Poetic techniques
Metaphor- the forest is a metaphor for life and the fork in the road are life’s decisions
THE ROAD NOT TAKEN
Key quotes x3
“took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference”
“grassy and wanted wear”
“leaves no step had trodden black”
OUT, OUT
1 line summary
Themes
This tragic tale of a child’s farmyard death is poignant and devastating.
Fragility of life
OUT, OUT
Title significance
The title of the poem is inspired by Shakespeare’s Macbeth, where we see Macbeth discussing the brevity of human life.
OUT , OUT
Tone
Everyday language - colloquialisms
Matter of fact tone - documentary approach
Poignant
Stark and harsh
Heightens the emotional impact of the poem
Emotionless tone lets the tragic story of the poem speak for itself
OUT, OUT
Imagery
Ambiguous personification of the saw “snarling and rattling”
Pastoral imagery of Vermont’s stunning landscape juxtaposed with the harsh reality of the incident.
OUT, OUT
Key quotes x5
“Snarled and rattled” - the saw
“Call it a day” - colloquialism
“The life from spilling”
“Don’t let him cut my hand off”
“Since they were not the ones dead, turned to their affairs” - the indifference of the family
ACQUAINTED WITH THE NIGHT
1 line summary
Themes
A sensitive portrayal of loneliness and indifference as part of the human condition
Intense loneliness and isolation
ACQUAINTED WITH THE NIGHT
IMAGERY symbolic
Personification
Night could be a symbol for darkness in the soul, perhaps loneliness and depression.
The lane is the “saddest”
“One luminary clock” - the town clock or perhaps the moon
Time is irrelevant because the speaker is without a sense of purpose.
ACQUAINTED WITH THE NIGHT
Tone
Poem is permeated by a tone of all-encompassing despair.
Hopeless , void of hope or redemption
ACQUAINTED WITH THE NIGHT
Key quotes x3
“walked out in rain and back in rain”
“watchman on his beat”
“one luminary clock”
BIRCHES
1 line summary
THEME
Charming poem where we are invited to discover how Frost dreams of re-living his childhood and escaping from reality into the world of imagination.
Poem offers a launching pad out of reality and into the spiritual, the imaginary.
BIRCHES
MAIN METAPHOR OF THE TREE SWINGING
Swinging on the burch branches is a metaphor for a return to the simple things in life.
BIRCHES
TONE
Conversational
Humorous in parts - “but I was going to say when Truth broke in with all her matter of fact about the ice storm.”
BIRCHES
POETIC TECHNIQUES
Metaphor - the swinging on birch branches is a metaphor for a return to the simple time of one’s life - childhood.
BIRCHES
KEY QUOTES x 4
“Swinger of birches”
“Birches bent left to right”
“Some boys swinging on them”
“But I was going to say when Truth broke in with all her matter of fact about the ice storm”
THE MENDING WALL
1 Line summary
Themes
Questions the society in which we live in and our need to segregate and build barriers between us.
Tells the story of two farmers who meet each year to mend the wall that divides their land.
Themes of pride and traditional wisdom passed down to the farmer by his father.
Rural traditions are cherished in this poem
THE MENDING WALL
Key quotes
“Good fences make good neighbours”
“Spring is the mischief in me” - Frost’s individual and liberal persona
THE MENDING WALL
The metaphorical significance of the wall
The wall serves as a canvas upon which many complex ideas about the ways in which people, and their relationships with others, are painted and discussed.
The wall is a physical image but also a metaphor and a comparison image
