Robert Frost: A Modernist Writer - Essay Example

Robert Frost: A Modernist The term Modernism refers to the revolutionary artistic movement of about 1890 – 1940 in literature and art. Modernist writing reached peak in the aftermath of World War 1. It was largely a reaction to “The catastrophe of the war (which) had shaken faith in the moral basis, coherence, and durability of Western civilization and raised doubts about the adequacy of traditional literary modes to represent the harsh and dissonant realities of the postwar world” (Abrams, in Pellegrino). New writers shed the traditions and culture of nineteenth century literature and explored new ground in the expression of form, content, subject and style. The characteristics of modernism are stream-of-consciousness writing, open form and free verse, themes of loneliness and isolation, a personal, subjective perspective, the use of symbols and metaphors and open-ended conclusions. Robert Frost (1874 – 1963) is generally acknowledged to be America’s unofficial Poet Laureate, “The American Bard,” who “remains to this day one of the most iconic figures of American poetry” (Domestico, 2010). Frost is not the typical modernist writer. He may be said to straddle traditional and modernist writing. Frost’s emphasis on the pastoral landscape and classic verse distances him from pure modernism, while his themes of loneliness and use of multiple narrative perspectives concur with modernist writing. The pastoral element predominates as a theme in Frost’s verse. Most of his poems are set in the rural landscape of New England. The vast majority of his popular poems deal with pastoral scenes. The titles of his poems unequivocally highlight his pastoral inclinations: “After Apple Picking,” “Birches,” “Blueberries,” “Mowing,” “The Pasture” are just a few from his considerable oeuvre of pastoral poems. Frost’s verses make up a lovingly crafted record of life in a New England farm. “The Pasture” talks about “ going out to fetch the little calf/that’s standing by the mother” (Frost, 5-6); “Mowing” deals with the sound of the “ long scythe whispering to the ground” (Frost,2); “After Apple Picking” describes the “ long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree” (Frost, 1). Unlike most modernist writers, Frost adhered to the traditional verse form., claiming that he would “as soon write free verse as play tennis with the net down” (Domestico, 2010). He was a master in the use of meter to give rhythm and flow to his poems. Frost also skillfully used rhyme in his verse. One of his most famous poems, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” is a masterpiece of meter and rhyme. Three out of four lines in each stanza is rhymed and the unrhymed word becomes the main rhyme of the next stanza: “know,” “though” and “snow” rhyme, and “here” goes on to rhyme with “queer,” “near” and “year” in the next stanza. “Whose woods these are I think I know” (Frost, 1) is a perfect example of the iambic meter. However, in other aspects, Frost is definitely a modernist writer. The themes of loneliness and solitude which echo through his poetry make Frost very much a modernist. “An Old Man’s Winter Night” is a haunting poem in which an old man is dying in solitude in the darkness of winter. The old man is isolated from nature, and has no communion with the outside sounds of Nature, “familiar, like the roar/ Of trees and crack of branches, common things” (Frost, 12-13). At the same time, the old man is also isolated from human society, with no contact with anyone: “A light he was to no one but himself” (Frost, 15). Just as this old man is isolated on a New England farm, isolation can be felt even in the middle of urban life. “Acquainted With the Night” speaks of loneliness in the city, and is the anguished cry of a man who has no one to “ call me back or say goodbye” (Frost, 10). The single, lonely voice of the narrator, who has no contact with anyone in all the multitude of a big city, not even “ the watchman on his beat” (Frost, 2), expresses the pain of man’s alienation from his fellow-men in modern society. Frost’s use of multiple narrative perspectives is another characteristic of modernist writing. Many of his poems incorporate many voices and contrasts. They “provide no neat conclusions, no one-way answers” (Burnshaw, 1990). In “The Death of the Hired Hand,” the husband and wife express contrary opinions in their view of Silas, the hired hand. The husband, angry at the man’s wayward behavior, categorically asserts “I’ll not have the fellow back” (Frost, 12). On the other hand, the wife urges him to “ Be kind” (Frost, 7). Again the husband and wife express different views on the conception of a home. To Warren a “Home is the place where, when you have to go there, / They have to take you in,” (121-122), while to Mary it is “Something you somehow haven’t to deserve” (Frost, 124). This juxtaposition of two points of view is again seen in Frost’s popular “Mending Wall.” The narrator is against the separation implied by walls, twice asserting, “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall” (Frost, 1). The neighbor is equally firm in his belief that “ Good fences make good neighbors” (Frost, 27). Frost does not take a fixed moral position, and lets the reader choose his own perspective. This is very typical of the open-ended conclusion of modernist writing. Frost’s celebration of the pastoral landscape and farm life of New England is in tune with the traditional poet’s emphasis on Nature. Again, his preference for traditional sound devices, such as meter and rhyme, give his poems a classical slant. This makes his poems easy to understand and accessible to everyone. However, Frost also uses the theme of loneliness, the multiple perspectives in narration, and open-ended conclusions, which are characteristic of modernist writing. Frost thus skillfully straddles the traditional and modernist worlds. It may be argued that this integration is a significant factor which contributes to the universal, timeless appeal of Frost’s verses. Works Cited. Burnshaw, Stanley. 1990. “Transcript: Robert Frost’s Contrarieties.” Poets.org. The Academy of American Poets. Web. 18 October 2012. http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20437 Domestico, Anthony. 2010. “Robert Frost.” Yale University Modernism Lab. Web. 16 October 2012 http://modernism.research.yale.edu/wiki/index.php/Robert_Frost Pellegrino, Joe. N.d.“Modernism.” Georgia Southern University. Web. Web. 16 October 2012 http://personal.georgiasouthern.edu/~jpellegr/teaching/modernism.htm Read More