Poetry Robert Frost - Essay Example

B. Speaker has a sense of obligation II. “After Apple Picking,” Frost conveys that same weariness with the demands of the world A. Subverts societal expectations 1. Leaves some tasks undone. 2. Overly tired from too much work B. Parallels current societal stratification. III. Even glummer though is Frost’s interpretation of the dangers of over work and the negligence of taking moments to appreciate nature and its beauty. In “Out, Out,” a boy on the verge of adulthood has his life cut short because his parents expect too much of him A.

Work robs youth. B. Work can make a person miss not only their own childhood, but that of their children’s too. IV. Conclusion: He cautions both workaholics and slackers alike by commiserating with the necessity of work and pleading for the tempering of that hard work with the contemplation of something truly beautiful and meaningful like nature. Robert Frost and the Dangers of Capitalism Part of what makes the poetry of Robert Frost so memorable is the natural settings he portrays. Snowy woods on a cold winter night, apple orchards after picking with remnants of harvest strewn about, and farmland touched by autumn, visible for miles are just some of the settings that Frost describes.

While these scenes make for a postcard view of New England, Frost uses them in another way. He uses these settings to contrast with what he saw as the tragedy of the modern world becoming too work-obsessed, too materialistic, and too capitalistic. When one interprets Frost’s poetry using a Marxist reading, some of them seem to directly address the issues currently plaguing not only the United States, but the world: rampant unemployment, a wealthy but small upper class with most of the power, and deep dissatisfaction among the workers who slave to support the owners’ lavish lifestyles.

Not only does Frost say that people should take time to enjoy what nature has provided for them, but that they should be allowed the time and freedom from their work-a-day responsibilities to do so. If they are not, tragedy may strike. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” may be the poem most memorized by young children, portrayed on Christmas cards, and explicated to death—in fact, many explications maintain that the poem is about death, and there is a tragic note to it. However, it can also be read as a poem about the tedium of life as an adult with responsibilities.

The first stanza provides a clue to a Marxist interpretation of the poem: Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. (Frost 1-4) Translated into non-poetic language, this stanza might read: “These woods are the property of this guy, wealthy enough to own the forest yet live in town. If he knew I was trespassing on his property, he might not like it, but since it is such a snowy, cold night, he, or anyone else who does not have to work for a living is out to see me stop here and contemplate the forest for a moment.

” The “easy wind” and “downy flake” belie a sense of serenity, but there is no denying that the first line forces the reader to think about the ownership of the woods (Frost 12). Critics have commented on this reading of Frost’s poems. Richard Wakefield in a Midwest Quarterly piece says, “The first stanza tells us these woods are not nature but property, part of the man-made world. The poet's first thought is of man-made boundaries.”