Human Experience and Conversational Style in the Poetry of Robert Frost - Research Paper Example

Human experience and conversational style in the poetry of Robert Frost For all his life, Frost has been making discoveries about America and the rest of the world. Because he is truly a wise poet, everything was uniform and equal to him. Any reader anywhere versed in any matters particularly universal and more ancient can understand his poems no matter the reader’s country of origin. This is because, according to Frost, a country is a place of human sense. A place of human sense in terms of thought, imagination, experience, and conversation. However, every good poet has the power to drive his message through poetry and in response to this vein; there emerges critics and their criticism. For instance, Yvor Winters states that the poetry of Robert Frost is plain, simple, and too conversational and lacks human experience (Winters 657). Therefore, this paper will seek to provide proof and support for disagreeing with Winters criticism using other critics namely Radcliffe Squires and Priscilla Paton. With regard to Winters in-depth review of poetry by Frost, his potentially unkind criticism appears riddled with a tone that is pompous and mean spirited. In Robert Frost: Or, the Spiritual Drifter as poet, Winters reviews the writing style used by Robert Frost and brings about a critique response that dictates some level of personal attack due to his blatant intolerance towards poetry of Robert Frost. As a result, his credibility becomes difficult to chew in following presence of individual malady in his criticism (Winters 659). With that respect, I disagree with this criticism where Winters claims the poetry of Frost has an assumed preoccupation with conversational poetry and nature. Agreeably, Winters sets forth some supposed constraints of poetry that is disturbing. In contrast, within the poetry of Frost, there is invitation to every reader to immerse himself or herself into the human spirit. Initially, Winters references the rural settings set out by Robert Frost. He goes ahead to put across that “he does not object employment of rural settings by Frost in his poetry; but readers should remember that it is upon the poet to make an evaluation of human experience”. With reference to this statement, it is true to put into writing that the content included in the poetry of Robert Frost focuses much on Mother Nature than human nature (Winters 661). As he explains the affinity to rural settings present in the poetry of Frost, Winters fails to make out presence of humanity in the poetry by Robert Frost. “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost sets clearly a message depicting struggles involved while making choices. Frost talks about two roads with a yellow wood divergence. Analysis of this line indicates presence of possible struggle or choice that a person has to make when faced by need to opt for one thing in the presence of two. In the following line, Frost states that “he is sorry he cannot take both roads”. This is a clear indication of the sorrow that one feels upon choosing one thing, person, or idea instead of the other. The reason why Frost leaves the decision or rather the decision unknown to us is that he leaves the stage open for the readers to interpret (Winters 663). As such, every reader would agree that the rural setting brought forward in the poetry of Frost is indeed enjoyable and the presence of human experience is indeed undeniable in the “Road not taken”. Additionally, Winters and his claims rest upon his deplorable yet questionable assumption that “poetry should be a conversation and as such, he finds no reason why should people call upon poetry to imitate conversation”. Probably, Winters criticism could have some degree of understanding, but are there any grounds why he should dictate that poetry has no room for conversations? Truthfully, its only Winters opinion that declares inability to employ conversations in poetry. Winters goes ahead to substantiate his dislike for Frost upon making reference that conversation is the “most formless and careless utterance of humans”. This reference insinuates that if conversation is such a useless form of describing events in a poem, so is poetry by Frost (Winters 664). Analytically, we can construe conversation as idle hence asserting that the poetry of Frost is anything but empty. In the poem “Stopping by woods on a Snowy evening” by Frost begins with the reader trying to establish what is going on by questioning. Line three states that the reader will not see the narrator stopping. This gives the reader an intrigue that makes him or her wonder why is it important to see the narrator stop. At the end of this poem, closure remains clinging onto the minds of readers. In both line 15 and 16 there is repetition by the narrator where he says that he has miles to trek prior sleep. In this case, the narrator implies that he has many years left to live before he dies (Winters 667). A cognitive literary review of this repetition shows that intrigue and death remain a part of human spirit and mystery. The poetry of Robert Frost presents no evidence for indolence. Up to this point, it is evident that poetry by Robert Frost contains human experience. To elaborate this argument further, I will indulge Priscilla Paton and Radcliffe Squires, the authors of “Apologizing for Robert Frost” and “The major themes of Robert Frost”. In her discussion, Priscilla highlights the kind and level of criticism endured by Frost. Her discussion focuses on a number of rationale reasons behind the negative responses brought into light by literary analysts regarding poetry by Robert Frost (Paton 72). Her claims point out that the prevailing events and trends in America might have a varying degree of role concerning the harsh comments directed by critics towards Frost and his poetry. It appears that use of rural settings by Robert Frost in his poetry is a matter of concern to most of his critiques. Consequently, Patton goes ahead to write that the rural setting by Frost does not impede readers from obtaining the true sense of Robert Frost and his poetry. Availability of this essence perpetuates this paper’s ability to support the will or power by Frost to convey experience of humans in spite of his preference for things like natural settings. As you read “The major themes of Robert Frost” by Radcliffe Squires you will find that the author dedicates every single chapter of his book to all of the themes found in poetry of Robert Frost. His analysis and dissection of numerous poems by Frost brings forth their relevance as well as their connection to the struggles of humans. In one particular chapter, Squires discusses the inherent connection or relationship between nature and humans still found in poems by Frost (Paton 80). Furthermore, Squires does his intense analysis and dissection and establishes the means used by Frost to utilize the cycles of nature to pass on the presence of turmoil by man and its subsequent intrigue brought about by death. As regards his writing style, Robert Frost uses metaphor, which is intense and clever. Squires makes it clear that Robert Frost does not use a rural setting background merely in his poetry, but rather incorporates it into contemplation, temptation, among other tribulations and trials that man has to confront in his daily life. Nonetheless, you should note that Squires acknowledges diction by Frost as simple but he makes no mention of the diction being a downfall. Rather, it assists in constructing truth and reality within poetry (Winters 678). This means that Frost needs no embellish to change the words in order to make his poetry sound beautiful and decorated. This follows the fact that his choice of words and use of language attracts readers of all kinds making Robert Frost a popular and at the same time, wide read poet. Referring once more to critics of Frost and his works, a number of writings by Winters on Frost claims that the works of Robert Frost does not recognize the vitality of human nature since he preoccupies his poetry with rural settings. According to Winters argument, the casual style and conversation approach used by Frost in writing his poems is mundane hence distances his works from any sincere or rather heartfelt relationship between humans and nature (Winters 688). Winters provides no basis for these claims and literary research establish zero evidence for such grounds. As a result, I strongly disagree with Winters and his negative view of poetry by Robert Frost on the grounds that Robert Frost cited romantic poems that utilized the importance of nature and complimented the struggles experienced by mankind. His choice of writing style drew the importance of nature and cleverly incorporated readers using his diction (Paton 88). Notwithstanding the point that several poems by Robert Frost explore themes that describe sadness and isolation, the majority of his poems express a high degree of his complete union with love for nature. For instance, “The Tuft of flowers” is a poem full of beauty and examines man’s fellowship. It contains arrested images and memorable lines of plethora and reads as if it is a narrative. As the poem opens, Frost says that he went to turn grass since someone had mowed it sometime before sunrise. Immediately, he pervades his poetry by creating a familiar sense of loneliness filled with detachment. Use of pronouns such as “I” depicts his personal connotation and suggest evidence that Frost, as a human being, feels bewildered and abandoned (Winters 700). This feeling of detachment, loneliness, and abandonment brings forth a sense of relationship between man and nature and is present in the majority of poems by Robert Frost. In conclusion, poetry by Robert Frost holds significant memories since, as a poet, he explores relevant themes and employs accessible language, which are basic factors that a modern reader finds essential. As readers, we cannot describe him as just a poet rather a poignant poet whose works highlight heartbreaks upon depicting tragic incidents. This sense of tragedy is evocative, provocative, and highly appealing to a modern reader. Frost writes about nature not as a single entity, but as a theme with the ability to give us insights into the experience of humans (Paton 97). This deployment of connection between nature and human experience as well as set out conversation distinguishes his works from other poets and renders his critics baseless. Works Cited Paton, Priscilla. “Apologizing for Robert Frost.” South Atlantic Review 63 (1998): 72-89. Jstor.. Web. 26 May 2012. Squires, Radcliffe.The Major Themes of Robert Frost. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1963. Print. Winters, Yvor. “Robert Frost: Or, the Spiritual Drifter as Poet.” Literature: Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama.Ed. Robert DiYanni. 2nded. New York: McGraw Hill, 2008. 699-700. Print Read More