From the later 1800’s (1874) to the middle 1900’s (1963), Robert Frost gave
the world a window to view the world through poetry. From “A Boy’s Will”
to “Mountain Interval,” he has explored many different aspects of writing.
Giving us poems that define hope and happiness to poems of pure morbid
characteristics; all of Robert Frost’s poems explain the nature of living. But
why does Frost take two totally different views in his poems? Is it because of
his basic temperament or could it be that his attitude towards life changed in
his later years? Throughout the life of Robert Frost, many different kinds of
struggles where manifested in his life that hampered his every thought. Some say
that Frost went from a “bright and sunny day” to “a dreary night.” But
even with all of the animosities that plagued his life, Robert Frost evolved to
become one of America’s greatest poets. Frost’s poems were not respected in
the United States at the time that he first began writing. But after a brief
stay in England, Frost emerged as one of the most extraordinary writers in his
time. Publishing A Boy’s Will and North Of Boston, Frost began his quest. In
the book A Boy’s Will, Frost writes poems of hope and beauty. “Love and a
Question,” illustrates the optimistic view of a bridegroom trying to help a
poor man. He thinks that he should help him, but not knowing if he can. His
heart shows compassion but his minds shows logic. The conclusion of this poem
shows not true ending, but leaves the reader in a state of imagining what was to
happen to the poor man. So much of the true Frost can be seen in his poem,
“The Vantage Point” (A Boy’s Will). In these verses, Frost reveals his
basic interests – mankind and nature. What’s more, he clearly exposes his
strategy of immersing himself in nature until he begins to need social relations
again; likewise, when he has his fill of mankind, he retreats back to the
comfort and solitude of nature. “And if by noon I have too much of these
(men), I have but to turn on my arm, and so, the sun-burned hillside sets my
face aglow.” Frost wants neither mankind nor nature to the exclusion of the
other. Rather be prefers to spend time with each, satisfied that he will know
when he’s had his fill. After his return to America, tragedy struck his
family. With the loss of his infant son, Frost found himself for the first time
at a loss of words. Frost felt that his writing was therapeutic, so his journey
continued. In this next book, North Of Boston, Frost for the first time shows
evidence of his maturing by writing a short narrative essay called “Home
Burial.” Using his own life experiences, Frost writes this story about a
father and mother who have lost their child. Using a descriptive and
conversational writing style, Frost explores his every emotion. Anger, sadness,
hatred, disappointment, and shock, were just a few of the emotions that were
felt in reading this poem. Truly this was a poem from his heart. Frost explores
not only the enormous tragedy of losing a child, but he touches on the rippling
effects that such a tragedy can have on family members. In these situations, the
death of the infant signaled the onset of the deterioration of the marriage and
of the “home” itself. In my ways, the “home” as well as the marriage
were “buried” with the dead child. Frost continues the evolution of his
emotions and his examination of man in work such as “Mending Wall” and
“The Death of a Hired Man,” both from North of Boston. As they walk along
mending the wall, Frost and his neighbor discuss the philosophy of walls. His
neighbor repeats, “Good fences make good neighbor,” and seems satiation with
his simple premise; however, Frost insists upon looking more deeply into the
maker of the rationale for wall building. “Before I built a wall I’d ask to
know what I was walling in or walling out.” Frost feels that if he and his
neighbor must spend time each spring repairing the wall, there must be
“something there is that doesn’t love a wall.” In other words, if it were
truly meant to be, it would stay put and not have to be reconstructed each year.
Perhaps for Frost, the wall for sees a unnatural restraint upon nature. In
“The Death of the Hired Man,” Frost’s tone is again casual and
conversational. The conversation, again, is between a husband and wife and as in
other writings, Frost defines differing opinions. This time, the husband and
wife disagree as to the motives of one of the handy men they have hired off an
on. Through the use of opposing new points and opinions Frost seems to be
struggling with his seems positive and negative perspective. Mary, the wife,
insists that even this homeless, jobless man has feelings, needs people and his
possibly come “home” to die. The husband on the other hand prefers to keep
him at arm’s length and question his motives. It requires too much emotion and
energy to seems involved. In Mountain Interval, Frost’s works take on a more
reflective tone as he seems to be reviewing and evaluating choices he has made
in his life. In “The Road not Taken,” he regrets not having had the
opportunity to go another route, but is satisfied with taking the road less
traveled. “I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the
difference.” He seems content with charting out in a direction all his own
regardless of the difficulties he has encountered. With all of theses different
poems that I have put into consideration; the conclusion is obvious. Robert
Frost, is poet of enormous talents. His far fetching spiracles of imaginative
words, leaves the reader to his or her own imagination. It is there that the
reader can come to a conclusion on how they want to interpret the writings. The
change in his writings is only in the reader’s imagination, and not in the
writers works; therefore, Frost’s works are interpretive.