Abstract
This article examines the major themes in Robert Frost’s poetry, arguing against the misleading criticism that Frost is restricted in his handling of major themes. The study investigates Frost’s exploration of man’s relationship to himself, to his fellowmen, to his world, and to his God. Rather than being limited by his rustic New England subject matter, Frost’s poems retain their freshness precisely because they deal with the basic themes of human life — isolation and togetherness, acceptance and resistance, darkness and light — without relying on contemporary idioms and events that become outdated. The article demonstrates that Frost’s work reveals a sophisticated engagement with universal human concerns through the particularities of the natural world.
Keywords: Robert Frost, American poetry, nature, themes, isolation, man and God, acceptance, fellowship, New England
Man in Frost’s Poetry
The most misleading criticism on Robert Frost is that he is restricted in his handling of major themes. But it should be held true that Frost’s confinement to things “rustic” amply fed this misinterpretation. He does present at times the illusion of happily settling down with his little New England, ignoring completely the rest of the world. Frost’s seeming avoidance of topical subject matter is not because of timidity. His reluctance is quite calculated as he never wanted to be characterized by topical labels.
Robert Frost while pondering a lot over man as an individual, emphasizes that inspite of the amiable socialization of man, he is basically single and alone with his fate. To him life covers both the possibility of terror and potential of beauty. Man must educate himself to know which it is to be. It becomes the primary task of a man to understand him and his place in this world. This can be achieved by observation and self-analysis.
Frost believes that future is a natural development of the past. Just as a seedling sprouting out from the crust of soil to become a fruit, new life springs out of the last year’s waste. Yesterdays lay foundation for the launch of “new growth.” The seasons throb the very message of “new” sprouting out of the “old.”
Man’s Relationship to His Fellows
Among the various themes of Robert Frost, man’s relationship to his fellows can be considered as an interestingly significant one as it comprises of both apartness and togetherness. Frost strongly advocates individualism. Man caught within the boundaries laid by nature, strives to achieve with whatever talents he has been granted.
Frost’s observation regarding man’s relationship to man is quite opposing. For instance, The Tuft of Flowers, speaks of the bond that lie between the individuals effecting universal brotherhood. “Men work together, I told him from the heart, / whether they work together or apart.” (39-40)
Frost speaks out in Snow that intolerance of others’ foibles remain the root cause for isolation of man from man. He emphasizes if life is to be lived, the worry, the inconvenience should all be borne up rather smilingly. Whether men live together or apart, the stark reality remains that he has to exist only as an individual. Isolation and the awareness that he is, “no more than grass for the mower” (Gerber 147), lay the seed for the fear of loneliness deep in the heart.
Man’s Relation to God
In the later years of his life, Frost has spoken more freely about his views of God. Frost advocates the presence of a barrier between the creator and the created. God he believes will never allow man to see completely into the life of things. Proper understanding of human limitations would aid man to achieve acceptance. Also through faith in God, man could learn to accept, the things that can’t be altered.
In A Masque of Reason, Frost justifies the ways of God to Man. The masque doesn’t picture the injustice of God, instead it portrays man’s stubbornness and his lack of understanding. The shrewd reason of man could do nothing to bridge the wall between man and God. But as it is explicit in the story of Job, man’s predicament would stand up as a bridge connecting man and the Supreme. Faith plays a vital role in understanding or even accepting the mystery which could not be completely explained.
Nature in Frost’s Poetry
It should be admitted without a second thought, the overwhelming presence of nature in Frost’s poetry. The nature casts up her presence on people, even if they shut the doors against her. The omnipresence of nature in Frost’s poetry can very well be felt in the mountains that rear high above man’s head; in the curve of valleys; in the leaf-strewn roads; in the crowding of trees, singly or in dense dark woods; in the blooming of tuft flowers; in the brooks that race downhill.
After picturing nature both as a benefactor and a destructor, Frost is not content with man doing his duties promptly as “tenant farmer.” He expects man to play of the preserver of nature. He emphasizes in Going For Water, man’s dependence on running water. Not only nature be preserved for material benefits, but also for fact: “It si from this in nature we are from.”
Conclusion
Frost never denied the presence of dark woods nor did he ignore its appeal. He stresses that the dark woods will always remain a mystery, which no man alive could solve. Throughout the fifty years of Frost’s poetic carrier, we find the same theme repeating itself again and again. Frost after a close examination of man’s plight offers twin keys to open the door of salvation, in the words of Gerber, “first comes recognition of man’s plight, next acceptance” (146). Frost’s poems retain their freshness because they deal with the universal experiences of man’s life — his relationship to himself, to his fellows, to the natural world and to his God — without being bound to contemporary events and idioms.