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??The Poetics of Robert FrostRobert Frost wrote poetry using traditional theories and practices of versification. He delighted in imposing on himself the discipline of rhyme and meter. Form was of prime importance to him as a philosophic principle and for the "making" of poetry. The word "design" was sacred to Frost. He was very interested in the rules of poetry, but he had his own twist on them. He kept the rules and he broke the rules; that should be kept in mind in studying his use of poetics. Frost rebelled at being labeled with any of the current fads in Poetry. He said, "I started calling myself a Synecdochist when others called themselves Imagists or Vorticists." Actually, Frost was more a Classicist - he adheres to traditional standards that are universally valid and enduring. An important innovation, along with other poets of his time, was the use of everyday language. He believed conversational language and tones of voice combined with ordinary experience could be good poetic material.Frost's poems are virtual treasure troves of all those principles of versification and yet his poems are also jewels of psychological meaning. Above all, Frost was a humanist.Frost's "poetics" are displayed on grids which will identify the elements of his poetry giving definitions and examples. Click on the following links to pull up the grid:Figurative LanguageImageryMeterSound Devices - Alliteration, Assonance, Consonance, Rhyme,Form - Structure, organization, patternToneStyle? Bibliography for "The Poetics of Robert Frost" Selected Prose of Robert Frost ed by Cox and Lathem Fire and Ice: The Art and Thought of Robert Frost by Lawrence Thompson The Dimensions of Robert Frost by Reginald L. Cook Robert Frost: A Living Voice by Reginald L. Cook Robert Frost on Writing by Elaine Barry Glossary of Poetic Terms from BOB'S BYWAY Sound and Sense: An Introduction to Poetry by Laurence Perrine ? "The Poetics of Robert Frost" by Carole Thompson Copyright 2001 The Friends of Robert Frost The Poetics of Robert Frost HYPERLINK "" \l "form" Form??Three Main Groups?Lyric?My November Guest?Mowing?A Late WalkNarrative?Out, Out?Love and a Question?Brown's DescentDramatic?Death of the Hired Man?Home Burial?The Witch of Coos?Structure? HYPERLINK "" \l "stanzaic" Stanzaic Form????Couplet?The Secret Sits?The Tuft of Flowers?A Minor Bird?Tercet (Triplets)Acquainted with the Night?A Star in a Stoneboat?Provide, Provide?Quatrain?Devotion?Stopping by Woods?Good Hours?Quintet?My November GuestThe Road Not Taken?Bond and Free.Sestet?Spring PoolsThe Freedom of the Moon?Closed for Good?Octave?Nothing Gold Can StayTwo Tramps in Mud Time?Love and a Question?Fixed Form????Sonnet?Design?Mowing?The Silken Tent?Blank Verse?Mending Wall?Birches?Out, Out?Continuous Form?Storm Fear?After Apple-Picking?Mending Wall?FormFrost's quote, "I'd sooner write free verse as play tennis with the net down," applies as well to form as it does to meter. For Frost, both form and meter were fundamental in the crafting of poetry. It's important to know how much it meant to him. Frost wrote,"There is at least so much good in the world that it admits of form and the making of form. And not only admits of it, but calls for it. We people are thrust forward out of the suggestions of form in the rolling clouds of nature. In us nature reaches its height of form and through us exceeds itself. When in doubt there is always form for us to go on with. Anyone who has achieved the least form to be sure of it, is lost to the larger excruciations. I think it must stroke faith the right way. The artist, the poet, might be expected to be the most aware of such assurance. But it is really everybody's sanity to feel it and live by it. Fortunately, too, no forms are more engrossing, gratifying, comforting, staying than those lesser ones we throw off, like vortex rings of smoke, all our individual enterprise and needing nobody's cooperation; a basket, a letter, a garden, a room, an idea, a picture, a poem. For these we haven't to get a team together before we can play." ? Frost wrote a little epigram called "Pertinax," Let chaos storm!Let cloud shapes swarm!I wait for form. ? Form falls into general categories which overlay the terms of structure. Poems are said to be lyric, narrative or dramatic. Thus a poem can be described as a lyric written in couplets, quatrains or sestets (2, 4 or 6 line stanzas). There can be a narrative poem written in blank verse, continuous structure (Birches). There can even be a dramatic narrative which has lyric overtones (Mending Wall). Frost wrote in all these forms. ? Read interview - Frost comments on the use of narrative, drama, and use of language. (Click) ? Lyric poetry is usually a short poem expressing personal thoughts and feelings. It is meditative. It is spoken by a single speaker about his feelings for a person, object, event or idea. This type poetry was originally sung accompanied by a lyre. Frost is primarily a lyric poet. ? Examples: My November Guest is a lyric poem written in 5 line stanzas (quintets). The meter is tetrameter, with a rhyming pattern abaab Mowing is a lyrical sonnet with a very irregular rhyming pattern. A Late Walk is a ballad-style lyric (tetrameter alternating with trimeter) rhyming the 2nd and 4th lines in quatrains. The indentation sets off the rhymes. (Go back to Table) ? Narrative poetry tells a story revealed by a progression unique to itself. There is a rising action, a climax and a falling action. ? Examples: Out, Out is a narrative in blank verse written in a continuous structure. (No stanzas, no breaks) Love and a Question is a ballad (see below) written in 8 line stanzas (octaves) Brown's Descent is a humorous narrative rhyming the 2nd and 4th lines in quatrains. The indentation sets off the rhymes. The meter is tetrameter. ? Note: The ballad is a narrative poem with stanzas of two or four lines and sometimes, a refrain. They are written in straight-forward verse, seldom with detail, but always with graphic simplicity and force. Ballads are generally written in ballad meter, i.e., alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter, with the last words of the second and fourth lines rhyming. Other Ballads: A Line Storm Song, Wind and Window Flower. ? Dramatic poems have speaking characters as in a little play. There can be monologues (1 person speaking), dialogs (2 or more people speaking) and narratives. The Death of the Hired Man is often called a dramatic narrative. Frost usually writes these in blank verse. The speeches follow no stanzaic pattern, but the lines are metrical. Frost's second book North of Boston is most famous for his dramatic pieces. He patterned many of them after Virgil's Eclogues. Frost's dramatic poems comprise some of his best praised work. ? ? ? To give form in poetry is to use organization, shapeliness, and fitness to the content of the poem. Form is structure. Frost believed that common verse forms are themselves metaphoric. A blank verse line lays down a direct line of image, thought or sentiment. The couplet contrasts, compares or makes parallel figures, ideas and feelings. The quatrain combines two couplets alternatively. The sonnet gives a little drama in several scenes to a lyric sentiment. There are three types of form in terms of how the poem is laid out on paper: Stanzaic, Fixed and Continuous. Overlapping these forms, poetry falls into 3 main groups: Lyric, Narrative and Dramatic, as noted above. Frost wrote in all of these forms. (Go back to Table)? Stanzaic: A division of a poem made by arranging the lines into units separated by a space, usually of a corresponding number of lines and a recurrent pattern of meter and rhyme. A poem with such divisions is described as having a stanzaic form. The division of lines can be: Couplets - 2 lines - Couplets must rhyme. Frost was very fond of them.Tercets - 3 lines - Used rarelyQuatrains - 4 lines - Most commonly used by FrostQuintets - 5 lines - Used occasionallySestets - 6 lines - Used occasionallySeptet - 7 lines - Never usedOctave - 8 lines - Used occasionally? Fixed: A form of poetry in which the length and pattern are prescribed by previous usage or tradition, such as a sonnet. In English poetry, the sonnet is the primary fixed form.The limerick is also a fixed form. Frost never published this limerick he wrote just for fun: Mary had a little lamb His name was Jesus Christ And God, not Joseph, was the ram But Joseph took it nice. ? Oven Bird, Range-Finding, Acquainted with the Night, A Soldier, The Investment, The Birthplace, The Master Speed. ((Table) ? Blank Verse. Unrhymed iambic pentameter. Frost wrote quite a bit of blank verse, which is not the same as free verse (tennis with the net down). Blank verse is metrical (Review Meter). Using Birches as an example, we can see how structured it is: - ! - ! - ! - ! - !When I / see birch / es bend / to left / and right (5 feet, or 5 accents all iambic) - ! - ! - ! - ! - !A - gainst / the lines / of straight- / er dark- / er trees (ditto)- ! - ! - ! - ! - !I like / to think / some boy's / been swing - / ing them (ditto) - ! - ! - ! - ! - !But swing - / ing does- / n't bend / them down / to stay (ditto)Generally Frost lays in his first lines in the meter and form he wants to follow. His variations on that style keep the reader guessing and off guard. By combining tone with meter, the poem becomes easy and conversational. But regardless how tight his poetics are, Frost's intention is to "trip you into the boundless." (Table)? Continuous Form The lines of the poem are written without formal groupings. The only breaks are contained by the meaning, which may be a series of analogies. ? Examples: ? Storm Fear - The loose iambic pentameter which establishes itself in the first four lines as the metrical pattern, is intermittently broken into nervous and jerky fragments, as though the speaker interrupted himself to hold his breath, to listen. And the structural nervousness heightens the tension of meaning. After Apple-Picking - There are irregular rhymes and although the predominant meter is iambic pentameter, there are quite a few irregular lines. Mending Wall - Here the continuous pattern of the poem mimics the wall - all in one piece. The metrics also mimic the wall with the accents coinciding with the meaning. ? Further reading: Visit The Frost Free Library and read "Frost as a Critical Theorist" from Robert Frost on writing by Elaine Barry. Extended essay on Frost's use of form. he Poetics of Robert Frost - ExamplesMeter??Dimeter?Dust of SnowThe Rose FamilyThe Rabbit HunterI Will Sing You One-OGathering Leaves?Trimeter?ReluctanceFlower GatheringNothing Gold Can Stay Neither Out Far Nor In DeepDepartmentalTetrameter?Stopping by WoodsMy November GuestThe Road Not TakenGoing for WaterDevotion?PentameterAcquainted with the NightThe RunawayThe Silken TentMending WallBirches?Hendeca- syllabics For Once Then, Something?????Meter? Frost is often noted as a metricist. He said, "I would sooner write free verse as play tennis with the net down." Metered verse has prescribed rules as to the number and placement of syllables used per line. The meter of any poem is based on the predominant or prevailing meter. It is not required that every line be the same number and pattern. As in other poetics, Frost followed the rules and broke the rules. ? The English language falls naturally into iambic patterns of accent or stress. Meter governs the placement of accents and the length of the line. Meter can be diagramed to examine these elements, which is called scansion. We scan the poem to discover the placement of accents. This helps us to read the poem correctly. Meter has a great influence on the flow and rhythm of the poem. Remember the TV advertisement where Ringo Starr asks, "Too many syllables?" Knowing how to manipulate meter is the essence of song-writing and rap (for those of you into that scene). A knowledge of meter helps one to write good sentences, especially in speech-writing. Meter makes it flow. ? In poetry, Meter is determined by how many "feet" are written per line. Look at the foot at the end of your leg. A "foot" is the basic unit of measure, usually containing 2 or 3 syllables, a combination of accented and unaccented. A foot must have an accent. It's like music, the accent is used instead of the beat to make the rhythm. Say the lines below out loud and listen to the accents: Dimeter: the line has two feet (the WAY a CROW)Trimeter: the line has three feet (NA-tures first GREEN is GOLD)Tetrameter: the line has four feet (whose WOODS these ARE i THINK i KNOW)Pentameter: the line has five feet (SOME-thing there IS that DOES-n't LOVE a WALL )Hendecasyllabics has 11 syllables per line. It is very unusual and Frost wrote only one poem in this meter.English meters are almost always one of these 5 patterns. ? ? Iambic 1) Iambic: 2 syl - first unaccented, second accented ( - !) in LEAVES no STEP (two iambics)2) Trochee 2 syl - first accented, second unaccented ( ! - ) SOME-where AG-es (two trochee)3) Spondee: 2 syl - both accented ( ! ! ) TWO ROADS. even though there are two accents, a spondee is one foot. ? In an Iamb, two syllables make up a "foot" (picture the foot at the end of your leg). Each step you take puts a "foot" down, a series of feet form the line of poetry. It's just like walking. This is what makes the rhythm. Frost often walked as he mentally composed his poetry. The footsteps made the beat. Get up and walk and say "whose WOODS these ARE i THINK i KNOW. That's perfectly iambic. ? Triplets 4) Anapest: 3 syl - first and second unaccented, third accented ( - - !)with a SIGH. (one anapest) ? 5) Dactyl: 3 syl - first accented, second and third unaccented (! - - ) one trav - el / (er) These three syllables make up a "foot", but the triplet is more like your finger.Your finger is in three pieces. ? Frost said, "There are only two meters "strict and loose iambic." In his terms, strict would be 1-2-3 (above) and loose would be 4-5. Iambic meter includes the trocaic inversion and spondee. Anapest and dactl are considered variations of iambic meter. ? Let's try to scan it. Remember there can be differences in the way we hear the poem.First I always count the syllables in each line. The "meter" of the poem will be the prevailing meter. Frost almost never wrote one meter throughout. Say this outloud but don't exaggerate the accents too much - it is supposed to be conversational. Stop and listen after the slashes to what you pronounced and you should hear it. The slash separates the feet in scansion. The Road Not Taken is written in tetrameter - 4 feet per line. (Go back to table) ? The Road Not Taken ! ! - ! - - ! - !Two roads / di verged / in a yel / low wood .......4 feet: (spondee) (iambic) (anapest) (iambic) - ! - - ! - ! - !And sor / ry I could / not trav / el both........ 4 feet( iambic ) (anapest) (iambic) (iambic) - ! ! - - - ! - !And be / one trav el / er long / I stood .........4 feet(iambic) (dactyl) (iambic) (iambic) - ! - ! - ! - - !And looked / down one / as far / as I could .......4 feet (iambic) (iambic) (iambic) (anapest) - ! - ! - - ! - ! To where / it bent / in the un / der growth.......... 4 feet (iambic) (iambic) (anapest) (iambic)? Anapest meter is quicker and lighter than iambic. The spondee on TWO ROADS reinforces the equal value of each road, just as the poem says. Frost liked getting this sort of thing to work out. Watch how his metrics reinforce the meaning of the poem. In some pieces, Frost deliberately mixes the meter from line to line for dramatic effect, as in Storm Fear where the short lines reinforce the fury of the storm. Frost created beautiful images in his poetry, with lovely rhymes and humanistic philosophy. Isn't it is just amazing that the number of syllables work out too! ? The only way to learn meter is to do it! It takes some work, but there is no faking it. Remember that we can hear the poem differently, but Frost was a great master at making you say his lines in a certain way. The sense of his poems drive the sound so that most of us say the poem intuitively with the accents in the right place. ? Conclusion? Frost remarked over and over, "There are only two meters in English, strict and loose iambic." (He was speaking of iambic (strict) and the anapest and dactyl triplet variations (loose). The stresses should come naturally from within the word itself, as if one were speaking common English. Frost said, "Meter alone is too limited and monotonous to convey meaning through sound. The possibilities for tune from the dramatic tones of meaning struck across the rigidity of a limited meter are endless." This is what makes Frost's poetry memorable. (Review tune) ? Example: Birches: "It's when I'm weary of considerations." This line is perfect iambic pentameter, with an extra metrical (feminine) ending. ( it's WHEN i'm WEAR - y OF con - SID - er - A (tions). There are 5 metrical beats on the line. The tune of the line impels extra stress on the word weary. The meaning and context make you say the line in a "tune" over the meter. Say it outloud in a natural way and hear the way weary stands out. The Poetics of Robert Frost - Examples?Sound Devices?AssonanceNothing Gold Can StayStopping by Woods?Ghost HouseThe Black Cottage?The Silken TentConsonanceNothing Gold Can Stay?MowingTree at my WindowLooking for a Sunset Bird in WinterThe Vantage PointAlliterationNothing Gold Can StayStopping by WoodsStorm Fear??Mending Wall?The Silken TentRhymeNothing Gold Can StayStopping by WoodsThe Tuft of Flowers?Devotion?The RunawayThe Sound of Sense A Patch of Old Snow ?The Runaway?Spring Pools?Home Burial?Storm Fear?TuneAcquainted with the Night?Provide, Provide?Design?Birches??Sound Devices?Sound devices, also known as "musical devices" make poetry a special art form. Frost called his poems "talk-song" as a means of conveying his slant on the musical qualities of poetry. The 19th C. Romantics, especially Poe, Coleridge and Swinburne carried musical delight in their poetics to an extreme. Frost deplored this along with the lush exuberance of nineteenth century poetry. Frost coined the idea of "the sound of sense" turning back to Wordsworth and Emerson as models even while creating his own special style. Frost used everyday speech rhythms and plain language to make poetry. Nevertheless, his poems are full of traditional sound devices that enrich his poetry. As far as Frost was concerned, music did not mix with poetry. One thing he deplored was setting his poems to music. Poems are made and meant to be spoken. ? It is not difficult to find alliteration, assonance and consonance in almost any Frost poem. We present examples only as a means to show you how to find them. The use of these devices is part of the craftsmanship of poetry - this is what makes language sound beautiful. Frost was a master of sound. He said, "The sound is the gold in the ore." ? In a taped discussion with Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren entitled "Conversations on the Craft of Poetry," (1959) Frost made an interesting statement: "One of the things that I notice with myself is that I can't make certain word sounds go together, sometimes they won't 'say.' This has got something to do with the way one vowel runs into another, the way one syllable runs into another. And then I never know -- I don't like to reason about that too much. I don't understand it, but I've changed lines because there was something about them that my ear refused. And I suppose it has something to do with vowels and consonants.... I don't want any science of it." See further comments on Frost's use of assonance (click) ? As with all poetic devices Frost used, he did not sit and plan them out. He instinctively knew how he wanted his poems to sound. As a result of his excellent intuition, these things are there for us to find. Frost enjoyed writing rhymed poetry, but he also wrote blank verse, which is unrhymed iambic pentameter. Almost every poem written by Frost is highly metrical. See Meter ? Assonance The relatively close juxtaposition of the same or similar vowel sounds, but with different end consonants in a line or passage, thus a vowel rhyme, as in the words, "same day." Assonance does not occur simply by having the same vowel spelling, eg. lost and most. Say the words outloud. Tip: Assonance begins with a vowel and it governs vowels. (Go back to table) ? Examples: Nothing Gold Can Stay: only so; ... Note: the words "nothing gold" is not assonance. Nothing is pronounced "nuth-ing" and gold is pronounced gold/old, that is with a long o. The same applies to "can stay."Stopping by Woods: ... the sweep / Of easy wind ... (long e's) Ghost House: black bats (a's) (alliteration and assonance) The Black Cottage: should sugar in the natal dew. (L 122) (alliteration and assonance) The Silken Tent: sunny summer (alliteration and assonance) See further comments on Frost's use of assonance (click) ? Consonance The repetition of the same consonant sounds at the end of stressed syllables, but with different vowel sounds, within or at the end of a line, such as "bad and sod", (d's) or "when furnaces burn", (n's). Tip: Consonance begins with a consonant and it governs consonants. ? Examples: Nothing Gold Can Stay: dawn goes down (n's) (alliteration and consonance) Mowing: sound beside the wood (d's); Tree at my Window: could be profound (d's); Mine with inner (n's) Note: here the stressed consonant sound (n) is inside the word. Although the vowel is the same as spelled, it is a different sound. The rule applies. Looking for a Sunset Bird in Winter: died of cold (d's), thought....alight, sweet and swift (t's) and more The Vantage Point: : slope where the cattle keep, (p's); ? Alliteration The repetition of the initial sounds (usually consonants) of stressed syllables in neighboring words or at short intervals within a line or passage, usually at word beginnings, as in "Jesse Jackson," who by the way, uses alliteration almost to excess. He is a very powerful orator who understands the use of all these sound devices. Again, alliteration depends on sound, not spelling, thus chime and cease are NOT alliterative. Used effectively, alliteration should create a connection or contrast between ideas. ? Examples: Nothing Gold Can Stay: Green is gold (g's) ; Her hardest hue to hold (h's) ; dawn goes down to day (d's) Stopping by Woods: the only other sound's the sweep (o's and s's) Storm Fear: When the wind whispers (w's) (alliteration and assonance) , the cold creeps (c's) Mending Wall: old-stone savageThe Silken Tent: sunny summer (alliteration and assonance) ? Rhyme The repetition of the accented vowel sound and all succeeding sounds, as in old - cold, make - wake, feign - rain. (table) ? What is important in Rhyme is the pattern of rhymes and the pairing of them against the meaning. Frost delights in pairing words that rhyme in an uncommon context and that have not been commonly used in poetry. He wouldn't waste his time rhyming life/wife. His rhymes still surprise the reader for both their sound quality and their associations. Frost used many variations of rhyme patterns. His most brilliant is "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," in which he rhymes 3 out of the 4 lines in each stanza and then interlocks the unrhymed word as the primary rhyme in the next stanza. In spite of this technical mastery, the poem is very fluid and effortless. You will almost never see a forced rhyme in Frost's poetry. ? Rhymes are diagramed to show the pattern, such as aaba which describes the first stanza of Stopping by Woods: know - though- here - snow. Certain verse forms have prescribed rhyme patterns such as sonnets. Again, Frost followed the rules and broke the rules. He showed his technical ability but took freedom with his materials. ? Frost liked using couplets - two lines of rhyming verse. He believed they were symbolic of life, of things having two aspects of reality: good and bad, light and dark, etc. He often used the form of Heroic Couplets - a poem consisting of a series of couplets with the thought complete in each of the two lines (usually ended by punctuation) ? Rhymes are said to be masculine and feminine depending on where the accent falls, thus Masculine endings: snow having only 1 syllable is accented making it masculine be-low is accented on the last syllable making it masculine ? Feminine ending: sea-son is accented on the second to last syllable making it feminine ? To rhyme a word like sea-son you need a word like reason, or treason. Frost made whole poems with rhyme patterns of alternating feminine and masculine endings, as in "Reluctance." Note how he indents to set off the endings: (table) Ah, when to the heart of man Was it ever less than a treasonTo go with the drift of things, To yield with a grace to reason,And bow and accept the end Of a love or a season?? The extra syllable at the end of the feminine ending is considered "extra-metrical" and is not counted for metric purposes. Thus the above stanza is written in trimeter - 3 accents per line. The feminine ending creates a particular sound when used as a pattern. ? Examples: Nothing Gold Can Stay: gold/hold, flower/hour etc - poem written in couplets Stopping by Woods: See above - interlocking rhyme The Tuft of Flowers: written in Heroic Couplets - see above Devotion: two couplets written with feminine endings The Runaway: The rhyming scheme of this poem is always noted in essays There are 6 lines : aba cbc (fall-colt-wall head-bolt-fled) (note: colt-bolt) then 7 lines : abc c abc then 8 lines : aa b cc b dd(table) ? The Sound of Sense This is a term coined by Frost and most importantly governs his theory of sound. Frost best explained the concept in two letters he wrote when his first books of poetry were published, one written to his friend John Bartlett on July 4, 1913 and the other to Sidney Cox on January 19, 1914. (Worth reading in full, Selected Letters) Here are some excerpts: ..the sound of sense is "the abstract vitality of our speech." "The best place to get the abstract sound of sense is from voices behind a door that cuts off the words." Sounds.."are summoned by the audile imagination and they must be positive, strong and definitely and unmistakenly indicated by the context." (sense). We get "cadences by skillfully breaking the sounds of sense with all their irregularity of accent across the regular beat of the meter." Frost's use of the sound of sense leads to his special interpretation of tone. Still seems confusing, doesn't it. William Pritchard explains this idea very well in his book, "Frost: A Literary Life Reconsidered" pages 78-100. ? My best attempt to explain it is that Frost writes in such a way that he makes you say the poem a certain way. If you would have 3 people prepare to read a poem, and bring them in one by one to recite it, you would find they all say it the same way, providing they spent the time to prepare it. The meaning and intonation emanates from within. See: Tone. Here are some examples: ? Examples: A Patch of Old Snow: the last line "If I ever read it." That last line is inevitably tossed off quizically with the voice lowered. That tone leads the reader to the extended analogy that the news may be as temporal as a patch of snow. The Runaway: "Sakes, it's only weather" sakes is heavily accented, followed by ON-ly and it's tone is gentle disdain. The last lines "Whoever it is that leaves him out so late / When other creatures have gone to stall and bin / Ought to be told to come and take him in." Frost said he wrote those lines for the aggreived tone of voice. Spring Pools: "Let them think twice" a tone of gentle admonishing. The voice lifts and the finger wags a bit. Home Burial: "Don't, don't, don't, don't," she cried. "I'm not, I'm not." "If -- you -- do!" All those emotions come through the words - the terror, fear, anger, denial, and anger again. The voice inevitably builds those emotions into the words. There is no way to read Home Burial in a flat voice. Storm Fear: Come Out! Come Out! -- The word "out" shouts a mighty challenge. The sound is fed by the meaning and context of the poem. The voice imediately drops, "It costs no inward struggle not to go./ Ah, No!" - the no comes back emphatically. ? Tune Frost often invited his readers to listen for the tune. This is one of those enigmatic terms he used on the podium. Frost explained that there is a metric beat and a rhythm beat, but the tune is the third thing. Frost strongly disagreed with the notion that poetry should be musical, but he did believe that poetry had it's own tune, which may be the closest thing he ever acknowledged. He once demonstrated how to count the 5 beats (of iambic pentameter) with your fingers and then play the tune on top of that. See the example in "Birches" below. ? Frost wrote, "All that can be done with words is soon told. So also with meters - particularly in our language where there are virtually but two, strict and loose iambic ...The possibilities for tune from the dramatic tones of meaning struck across the rigidity of a limited meter are endless." This is what makes Frost's poetry memorable. ? Examples: Acquainted with the Night: after reading it, Frost said, "All for the tune. Tune is everything." On another occasion, "Listen for the tune." Provide, Provide: after reading it Frost said, " There's plenty of tune to that." Design: Frost said, "That one hasn't any tune at all." Birches: "It's when I'm weary of considerations." This line is perfect iambic pentameter, with an extra metrical (feminine) ending. ( it's WHEN i'm WEAR - y OF con - SID - er - A (tions). There are 5 metrical beats on the line. The tune of the line impels extra stress on the word weary. The meaning and context make you say the line in a "tune" over the meter. The Poetics of Robert Frost - ExamplesFigurative LanguageMetaphorThe Silken TentPutting in the SeedDevotion?To Earthward?All RevelationSimileMending Wall??StarsGoing for Water?Birches?Hyla BrookSymbolThe Road Not TakenRose Pogonias Stopping by WoodsThe Pasture & DirectiveCome In?Personifi- cationMy November GuestMowingRange-FindingTree at my Window?Storm FearApostrophe??Take Some- thing like a StarTree at my WindowMending Wall??SynecdocheStopping by WoodsThe Gift Outright?I Will Sing You One-O?Kitty Hawk?Fire and IceMetonymy?Out, Out????Allegory or ParableAfter Apple- Picking The GrindstoneThe Lockless Door?Birches?DesignParadoxNothing Gold Can Stay?The Gift Outright?Ghost House?Fire and IceThe Tuft of FlowersHyperboleA Star in a Stoneboat?EtherealizingAfter Apple-PickingStopping by WoodsThe Milky Way is a CowpathUnder Statement?Fire and Ice?Mowing?Hyla BrookMy November GuestBrown's DescentIrony?BirchesRange-FindingThe Road Not Taken?Ghost House?StarsFigurative Language?Figurative language uses "figures of speech" - a way of saying something other than the literal meaning of the words. For example, "All the world's a stage" Frost often referred to them simply as "figures." Frost said, "Every poem I write is figurative in two senses. It will have figures in it, of course; but it's also a figure in itself - a figure for something, and it's made so that you can get more than one figure out of it." Cook Voices p235 ? Metaphor A figure of speech in which a comparison is made between two things essentially unalike. To Frost, metaphor is really what poetry is all about. He is notably a poet of metaphors more than anything else. This is so important, we should hear directly from the poet. Frost said," Poetry begins in trivial metaphors, pretty metaphors, 'grace metaphors,' and goes on to the profoundest thinking that we have. Poetry provides the one permissible way of saying one thing and meaning another. People say, 'Why don't you say what you mean?' We never do that, do we, being all of us too much poets. We like to talk in parables and in hints and in indirections - whether from diffidence or from some other instinct". ... Excerpt from an essay entitled "Education by Poetry" by Robert Frost. ? Examples: The Silken Tent. A woman is admired for her strength and beauty, like a silken tent. Note the strength of the silk and cedar. Putting in the Seed. The planting of seed in the garden, in springtime is like making love. Devotion. The passive but ever-changing shore and the persistent energetic ocean are like a devoted couple. To Earthward. The stages of love are like stepping stones to death. All Revelation. A view of a geode crystal is like the mind probing the universe. (Go back to Table) ? Simile A figure of speech in which a comparison is expressed by the specific use of a word or phrase such as: like, as, than, seems or Frost's favorite "as if," ? Examples: Mending Wall: like an old-stone savage armed Stars: like some snow-white/ Minerva's snow-white marble eyes Going for Water: We ran as if to meet the moon ---- we paused / like gnomes Birches: Like girls on hands and knees that throw their hair Hyla Brook: Like ghost of sleigh bells (Table) ? Symbol A thing (could be an object, person, situation or action) which stands for something else more abstract. For example our flag is the symbol of our country. The use of symbols in Frost's poetry is less obvious. Frost was not known as a Symbolist. Actually, the Symbolists were a late 19th century movement reacting against realism. Frost rebelled against this movement and preferred to use metaphors. There are certain signature images that become symbols when we look at Frost's complete work. Flowers, stars, dark woods and spring (the water kind) are consistent symbols in Frost's poetry and should be noted here. As with many other poetic devices, Frost had his own way of keeping the rule and breaking the rule. Cook Dimensions p197 ? Frost said, "If my poetry has to have a name, I'd prefer to call it Emblemism," not "Symbolism," which is all too likely to clog up and kill a poem." Burnshaw p283 ? Examples: The Road Not Taken: the forked road represents choices in life. The road in this poem is a text book example of a symbol. Rose Pogonias: Early in Frost's poetry, flowers become a symbol for the beloved, his wife Elinor. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening: even though there is no one overt symbol in the poem, the entire journey can represent life's journey. "Dark woods" also become a powerful recurring symbol in Frost. The Pasture and Directive. Spring (as in water spring) is very meaningful in Frost's poetry. Spring represents origin or source, almost in a Proustian sense. Other variations include "brook" Hyla Brook and West-Running Brook. Water often deals with an emotional state. Come In: "But no, I was out for stars." The star is one of the chief symbolic images in Frost's poetry. (Table) ? Personification A type of metaphor in which distinct human qualities, e.g., honesty, emotion, volition, etc., are attributed to an animal, object or idea. ? Examples: My November Guest: the guest is Sorrow, personified as a woman dearly loved who walks with him. Mowing: the scythe whispers Range-Finding: the spider sullenly withdraws Tree at my Window: the tree watches him sleep; it has tongues talking aloud Storm Fear: the wind works and whispers, the cold creeps, the whole storm is personified (Table) ? Apostrophe A figure of speech in which someone absent or dead OR something nonhuman is addressed as if it were alive and present. ? Examples: Take Something Like a Star: the poem begins, "O Star," He addresses the star throughout the poem. Tree at my Window: He addresses the tree throughout: "Tree at my window, window tree." Mending Wall: speaking to the stones that make up the barrier, he says, "Stay where you are until our backs are turned!" ? Synecdoche A figure of speech which mentions a part of something to suggest the whole. As in, "All hands on deck," meaning all sailors to report for duty. Hands = sailors. Frost said, "I started calling myself a Synecdochist when other called themselves Imagists or Vorticists." ? Examples: Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening: The little journey in the poem represents life's journey. The Gift Outright: The gift represents the history of the United States. I Will Sing You One-O: Two clock towers striking One o'clock represent extensions of earthly and heavenly time. Kitty Hawk: Man's first flight represents man's yearning for God or heaven. Fire and Ice: The heat of love and the cold of hate are seen as having cataclysmic power. ? Metonymy A figure of speech that uses a concept closely related to the thing actually meant. The substitution makes the analogy more vivid and meaningful. ? Examples: Out, Out: the injured boy holds up his hand "as if to keep / the life from spilling." The literal meaning is to keep the blood from spilling. Frost's line tells us that the hand is bleeding and the boy's life is in danger. (Table) ? Allegory or Parable A poem in the form of a narrative or story that has a second meaning beneath the surface one. Frost is notable for his use of the parable using the description to evoke an idea. Some critics call him a "Parablist." ? Examples: After Apple-Picking: the apple harvest suggests accomplishment The Grindstone: the grinding of the blade suggests the idea of judging and recognizing limits The Lockless Door: a story of self escape Birches: the climbing suggests the value of learning and experience Design: the incident suggests a universal design (Table) ? Paradox A statement or situation containing apparently contradictory or incompatible elements, but on closer inspection may be true. ? Examples: Nothing Gold Can Stay: green is gold The Gift Outright: "And forthwith found salvation in surrender." Ghost House: I dwell in a house that vanished. Fire and Ice:"But if it had to perish twice" The Tuft of Flowers: men work together whether they work together or apart. ? Hyperbole A bold, deliberate overstatement not intended to be taken literally, it is used as a means of emphasizing the truth of a statement. This is relatively rare in Frost. He has a penchant for fact and truth. ? Example: A Star in a Stoneboat: A meteorite is found in a field and supposed to be a star which has fallen to earthEtherealizing: The idea of reducing ourselves simply to a brain. After Apple-Picking: Ten thousand thousand fruit to touch. Stopping by Woods: The woods filling up with snow. The Milky Way is a Cowpath (title) (Table) ? Understatement The presentation of a thing with underemphasis in order to achieve a greater effect. Frost uses this device extensively, often as a means of irony. His love poems are especially understated. He cautions, "Never larrup an emotion." ? Examples: Fire and Ice: Ice, which for destruction is great, "will suffice." Mowing: "Anything more than the truth would have seemed to weak" This is almost Frost's definition of understatement Hyla Brook: the last line "We love the things we love for what they are." My November Guest: The speaker appreciates the November landscape, but leaves it to his "guest" to praise. Brown's Descent: After falling down an ice crusted slope, Farmer Brown still clutching his lantern says, "Ile's (oil's) 'bout out!" ? Irony Verbal irony is a figure of speech when an expression used is the opposite of the thought in the speaker's mind, thus conveying a meaning that contradicts the literal definition. Dramatic irony is a literary or theatrical device of having a character utter words which the the reader or audience understands to have a different meaning, but of which the character himself is unaware. Irony of situation is when a situation occurs which is quite the reverse of what one might have expected. Often, Frost's use of irony convey's one meaning by word and syntax, and another by the tone of voice it indicates. The tone contradicts the words. Frost's irony is usually tricky because it is so subtle. ? Examples: Birches: Dramatic irony the wish to get away from earth may not be granted too soon Range-Finding: Irony of situation when the spider is disturbed by a bullet but finds it unimportant. The Road Not Taken: Verbal irony - the speaker knows he will tell the old story "with a sigh" of a choice that "made all the difference." Ghost House: Irony of situation when daylight falls (usually night falls) into a place that was supposed to be dark in order too keep things for survival.The cellar was a storeroom filled with things to get you through the winter. In this case, daylight is dissolution of the proper and good use of the place. Wild raspberries now grow where fruit used to be stored. This poem is full of irony. Stars: Minerva, the goddess of wisdom but her eyes are without the gift of sight. ? The Poetics of Robert Frost - ExamplesImagery???VisualAfter Apple-PickingOnce by the Pacific?Birches?October?Good Hours?AuditoryAfter Apple-Picking??Mowing?The RunawayAn Old Man's Winter NightStopping by Woods?OlfactoryAfter Apple-Picking?To Earthward"Out, Out"??UnharvestedTo a Young Wretch?GustatoryAfter Apple-PickingTo Earthward??Blueberries?A Record StrideThe Exposed Nest?TactileAfter Apple-Picking??Moon CompassesThe Death of the Hired ManThe Witch of Coos On Going Unnoticed?OrganicAfter Apple-Picking??Storm Fear?BirchesThe White- Tailed Hornet?Spring Pools?KinestheticAfter Apple-Picking??Bereft?Ghost House?A Late WalkOnce by the Pacific? Imagery ?Imagery may be defined as the representation through language of sense experience. Poetry indirectly appeals to our senses through imagery. Imagery is more incidental to a poem than metaphors, symbols and theme and they are often confused. Nevertheless, an image should conjure up something more than the mere mentioning of the object or situation. A mistake often made is to take every image as though it were a symbol or metaphor. Frost called that "pressing the poem too hard." Starting with the examples below, see how many you can find in each poem. ? There are 7 different kinds of imagery: Visual imagery - something seen in the mind's eye ? Examples: After Apple-Picking - magnified apples appear and disappear...every fleck of russet showing clear Once by the Pacific - the clouds were low and hairy...like locks blown forward in the gleam of eyes. Birches - the iced branches shed "crystal shells" October - Enchant the land with amethyst Good Hours - the cottages up to their shining eyes in snow Auditory imagery - represents a sound (Go back to table) ? Examples: After Apple-Picking - the rumbling .. of load on load of apples coming in. Mowing - the scythe whispering to the ground The Runaway - the miniature thunder... the clatter of stone An Old Man's Winter Night - the roar of trees, the crack of branches, beating on a box Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening - the sweep of easy wind and downy flake Olfactory imagery - a smell ? Examples: After Apple-Picking - Essence of winter sleep in on the night, the scent of apples Note: just the mention of "the scent of apples" does not make it an image, but when connected to "essence of winter sleep" the scent gains vividness. To Earthward - musk from hidden grapevine springs Out, Out - the sticks of wood "sweet scented stuff" Unharvested - A scent of ripeness from over a wall...smelling the sweetness in no theft. To a Young Wretch - the boy takes the tree and heads home, "smelling green" Gustatory imagery - a taste ? Examples: After Apple-Picking - although not specifically mentioned, the taste of the apples is implied To Earthward - I craved strong sweets ...now no joy but lacks salt Blueberries - the blueberries as big as your thumb...with the flavor of soot A Record Stride - the walking boots that taste of Atlantic and Pacific salt The Exposed Nest - A haying machine passes over a bird nest without "tasting flesh" Tactile imagery - touch, for example hardness, softness, wetness, heat, cold ...( HYPERLINK "" \l "table" table) ? Examples: After Apple-Picking - the fruit to "Cherish in hand" Moon Compasses - "So love will take between the hands a face.." The Death of the Hired Man - Mary touches the harplike morning-glory strings and plays some tenderness. The Witch of Coos - the bed linens might just as well be ice and the clothes snow On Going Unnoticed - You grasp the bark by a rugged pleat,/ And look up small from the forest's feet. Organic imagery - internal sensation: hunger, thirst, fatigue, fear ? Examples: After Apple-Picking - My instep arch not only keeps the ache, It keeps the pressure of a ladder round Storm Fear - My heart owns a doubt, It costs no inward struggle not to go Birches - It's when I'm weary of considerations/ And life is too much like a pathless wood, etc The White-Tailed Hornet - "To stab me in the sneeze-nerve of a nostril" Spring Pools - the trees drinking up the pools and along with it, the flowers Kinesthetic imagery - movement or tension ....( HYPERLINK "" \l "table" table) ? Examples: After Apple-Picking - "I feel the ladder sway as the boughs bend."Bereft - Leaves got up in a coil and hissed,/ Blindly struck at my knee and missed. Ghost House - the black bats tumble and dart A Late Walk - the whir of sober birds, is sadder than any words Once by the Pacific: "Shattered water ...Great waves looked over others coming in," ? ? ? ToneThere are numerous and sometimes conflicting text book definitions of tone:"The poet's or persona's attitude in style or expression toward the subject, e.g., loving, ironic, bitter, pitying, fanciful, solemn, etc. Tone can also refer to the overall mood of the poem itself, in the sense of a pervading atmosphere intended to influence the readers' emotional response and foster expectations of the conclusion." (Glossary of Poetic Terms from BOB'S BYWAY)? "The writer's or speaker's attitude toward his subject, his audience, or himself; the emotional coloring, or emotional meaning, of a work." (Sound and Sense: An Introduction to Poetry by Laurence Perrine) ? ? "The word tone in literary discussion is borrowed from the expression tone of voice. Tone is the manner in which a poet makes his statement; it reflects his attitude toward his subject. Since printed poems lack the intonations of spoken words, the reader must learn to "hear" their tones with his mind's ear. Tone cannot be heard in one particular place since it reflects a general attitude, it pervades the whole poem." (Poems: Wadsworth Handbook and Anthology by C. F. Main & Peter J. Seng) ? ? "Tone expresses the poet's attitude toward his audience. We all experience tone in everyday life. A speaker's placing of emphasis, his tone of voice, his facial expression, even his gestures all help the hearer to determine the speaker's meaning and attitude." (The Order of Poetry, An Introduction Bloom, Philbrick and Blistein) ? None of the text book definitions of tone given above seem to resolve the exact meaning of the term. It continues to present a difficulty for this writer to understand the term exactly and to relate it to Frost's poetry as we have done with meter, metaphor and rhyme. When Frost spoke and wrote about his poems, he always mentioned tone. As with many of his theories, he had his own twist. Tone is the central idea of Frost's "sound of sense." To him, it meant voice tones. ? When Frost explained his theory of the sound of sense, he said tone is what comes through a closed door when people are speaking out of earshot. We cannot understand the exact words, but the tones of voice tell us what is going on. You can tell if the voice is pleading, demanding or doubtful. These living voice tones can be heard in Frost's poems. ? Frost explained, "It's tone I'm in love with; that's what poetry is, tone." "That tone is everything, the way you say that 'no.' (Job in The Masque of Reason) I noticed that - that's what made me write that." He said he wrote the last lines of The Runaway just for the "aggrieved tone of voice." In Spring Pools, you can see the finger wag a bit as the speaker says, "Let them think twice.." ? "Everything written is as good as it is dramatic...Sentences are not different enough to hold the attention unless they are dramatic...All that can save them is the speaking tone of voice some how entangled in the words and fastened to the page for the ear of the imagination." (Frost in Preface to A Way Out) ? Frost believes that tone gives variety. He said, "you've got to get dramatic." It is therefore hard sometimes to identify an overall tone in a Frost poem because he is consciously changing them. Frost wrote poetry in a speaking voice and the tone(s) are essential to the drama. This applies just as well to The Death of the Hired Man as to Nothing Gold Can Stay. ? These examples were given by Frost himself to explain his use of tone: ? A Patch of Old Snow ? There's a patch of old snow in a corner, That I should have guessed Was a blow-away paper the rain Had brought to rest. ? It is specked with grime as if Small print overspread it. The news of a day I've forgotten -- If I ever read it. ? Frost explained the first stanza is "merely ordinary and bookish." He relied on the reader's recognition of the snow and blow-away newspapers and the transient nature of news. The first 6 lines set up the situation for the last two where he makes you drop your voice to expose the irony of the last line ... "If I ever read it." That is classic Frostian tone and sound of sense. Frost imparts the tone through the sense or meaning of the ongoing situation. If you get several people to read it, you will hear that they all read the last line alike. Frost has a way of making the reader say the lines in a certain way. ? Frost believed it was the tone and the sound of sense which conveyed art in poetry. Poetry should be about things we recognize, things common in experience, BUT delightful in the uncommon way a thing is said: "All the fun's in how you say a thing." He wanted the living sound of speech to come off the printed page and into the reader's ear or audile imagination. ? Here is another example Frost gave of changing tones: ? The PastureI'm going out to clean the pasture spring; (light, informing tone)I'll only stop to rake the leaves away ("only" tone - reservation)(And wait to watch the water clear, I may): (supplementary, possibility)I sha'n't be gone long. -- You come too. (free tone, assuring) (after thought, inviting) "Rather well for me" -- I'm going out to fetch the little calf (Similar, free, persuasive, assuringThat's standing by the mother. It's so young, and inviting tones in second stanza) It totters when she licks it with her tongue.I sha'n't be gone long. -- You come too.And more from Frost, "The visual images thrown up by a poem are important, but it is more important still to choose and arrange words in a sequence so as to virtually control the intonations and pauses of the reader's voice. By the arrangement and choice of words on the part of the poet, the effects of humor, pathos, hysteria, anger, and in fact, all effects, can be indicated or obtained." ? Now if we think again about the definitions of tone, we can say: tone, as Frost used it, does indicate the emotional intent of the poet, the speaker and the overall attitude of both. The textbook definitions speak to the ultimate result of the use of tone, while Frost actually addresses how this is accomplished with the use of voice tones. Frost was not interested in idioms and intonation to be quaint. He consciously wrote the sound of talk including vernacular tones in order to expand his poetry and to convey meaning to the reader. ? Further reading: Visit The Frost Free Library and read "Frost as a Critical Theorist" from Robert Frost on writing by Elaine Barry. ? Frost's StyleOf all his poetic elements, Frost's style seems the hardest to pin down. Actually one cannot pin it down, but something could be said to further our un-enlightenment. Let's begin with what Frost said about style in a letter to his friend Louis Untermeyer dated March 10, 1924Dear Old Louis:Since last I saw you I have come to the conclusion that style in prose or verse is that which indicates how the writer takes himself and what he is saying. Let the sound of Stevenson go through your mind empty and you will realize that he never took himself other than as an amusement. Do the same with Swinburne and you will see that he took himself as a wonder. Many sensitive natures have plainly shown by their style that they took themselves lightly in self-defense. They are the ironists. Some fair to good writers have no style and so leave us ignorant of how they take themselves. But that is the one important thing to know: because on it depends our likes and dislikes. A novelist seems to be the only kind of writer who can make a name without a style: which is only one more reason for not bothering with the novel. I am not satisfied to let it go with the aphorism that the style is the man. The man's ideas would be some element then of his style. So would his deeds. But I would narrow the definition. His deeds are his deeds; his ideas are his ideas. His style is the way he carries himself toward his ideas and deeds. Mind you if he is down-spirited it will be all he can do to have the ideas without the carriage. The style is out of his superfluity. It is the mind skating circles round itself as it moves forward. Emerson had one of the noblest least egotistical of styles. By comparison with it Thoreau's was conceited, Whitman's bumptious. Carlyle's way of taking himself simply infuriates me. Longfellow took himself with the gentlest twinkle.Now that Frost explained it, do we understand his style? Well...no! Here's another excerpt from Frost's lecture before the Winter Institute of Literature at the University of Miami, in 1935. The talk was entitled "Before the Beginning and After the End of a Poem": Frost said, "In the creative act, a certain impulse or state of mindprecedes the writing of the poem. Next comes what Stevenson called 'avisitation of style', a power to find words which will somehow convey theimpulse."Certainly an essential element of Frost's style is his choice of words or diction. He uses everyday words you would use in conversation. Frost writes his sentences with meter and rhythm to enhance their beauty. He also uses many poetic devices adding to the craftsmanship of the poem. In 1931, Isidor Schneider called Frost's style "gnomic." William Rose Benet said, "Frost is no transcendentalist." Cleanth Brooks wrote Frost's character or poetic mask may be described as "the sensitive New Englander, possessed of a natural wisdom; dry and laconic when serious; genial and whimsical when not; a character who is uneasy with hyperbole and prefers to use understatement to risking possible overstatement." Possibly, Brooks explains best in Frost's own criteria: "style is the way he carries himself toward his ideas and deeds."Let's try to identify another poet's style. T. S. Eliot can certainly be termed a disillusioned urban aristocrat. Emily Dickinson, a introspective soul, a house hermit, perhaps a bit mad, and terribly connected to an inner world. Does this fit? "Style is the way he carries himself toward his ideas and deeds." Ernest Hemingway's style was that of the adventurer, soldier of fortune.We know what "style" means in terms of one's dress. Style embellishes one's persona and signals the observer what to expect - what is in character. A poet's style can be like that too. Frost said, "It is the mind skating circles round itself as it moves forward." You have to think of that carefully - the mind making figure eights, spins and displays, showing off prowess.Frost is the rural Yankee who writes about everyday experiences - his own experiences, but he was one who saw metaphorical extensions in the everyday things he encountered. The experiences are his subject matter along with the rural setting of New England nature, seasons, weather and times of day. This raw material accounts for one of the enduring qualities of his poems because these things are timeless - they are still in our consciousness - still a part of our lives. Regardless of subject and setting, Frost's metaphorical extensions and his mastery of form are his true genius.Frost believed that the subjects of poetry should be "common in experience," that it should speak of familiar things everyone recognizes, BUT "uncommon in expression.""All the fun's in how you say a thing."Poetry should not try to tell us something we don't know, to reform us, or even teach us. To Frost, the poem should cover familiar ground, but say it in an unfamiliar way. If the poet succeeds, "the poem will keep its freshness like a metal keeps its fragrance."Letter from Robert Frost (edited) to Louis Untermeyer, dated March 10, 1924 from SELECTED LETTERS OF ROBERT FROST edited by Lawrance Thompson., Henry Holt and Co., 1964. Used by permission of the Trustee of the Estate of Robert Frost and Henry Holt and Co. ................
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