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Nature of Frost

This essay centers in one of the renowned poet of the twentieth century of the United States of America known as Robert Frost. I have chosen two of his popular poems of his career. Briefly i have looked at his private life and his career life for the purposes of this essay so as to understand the person Robert Frost was and his works. The biography in this essay is giving an account of the life of Robert Frost and how his career spanned during his lifetime.

Frost was born in San Francisco, where he lived for the first eleven years of his life. Upon his father's death, a journalist, he moved with his mother and sister to Massachusetts near his paternal grandparents. His first poems he wrote as a student at Lawrence High School, he later was to marry, Elinor Miriam White in 1895. He entered Dartmouth College in 1892 but was there hardly a term; he retuned home to work at various jobs, such as factory-hand, newspaperman and teaching. In 1894 he sold the first poem, 'My Butterfly: An Elegy', to a New York magazine, The Independent.

Both Frost and his wife taught school for some time, then in 1897 Frost joined Harvard College as a special student for a short period. He performed quite well at Harvard, but at the time his health became uncertain, he rejoined his wife in Lawrence. At the time his wife was expecting their second child. In October of 1900 his family settled on a farm in New Hampshire, bought for him by his grandfather. Over the next nine years, he wrote many poems that would constitute his first published volumes. Besides writing he tried his hand in poultry farming though not too successful. In 1906 he started teaching English at Pinkerton Academy, a high school in New Hampshire. During this time two of his most accomplished early poems, 'The Tuft of Flowers' and 'The Trial by Existence', were published. At the time he and Elinor had produced six children, two of whom died as infants. In 1912 he sold his farm and sailed with his family Glasgow, settling in Beaconsfield outside London.

During his life he did spectacular works writing many books, poems and plays which were published both in England and in America. However Frost having been a polished writer he really believed in his capabilities to thrill his readers with captivating works and Frost's own formulation to an American friend in 1914 is helpful in thinking about his achievement: he told the friend, Sidney Cox, that the true poet's pleasure lay in making ‘his own words as he goes' rather than depending upon words whose meanings were fixed: 'We write of things we see and we write in accents we hear. Thus we gather both our material and our technique with the imagination from life; and our technique becomes as much material as material itself.' It was this principle that Pound saluted in Frost when, in his review of North of Boston, he remarked conclusively: 'I know more of farm life than I did before I had read his poems (Terry 52).

This essay is focusing on the works of Robert Frost, picking part of his work to analyze literary and their application in the real life situations which gives reader a feel of someone who committed his whole educating people about the experiences of life and how to cope with challenge as we live.  One of the works of Robert Frost is his poem of 1916 known as 'The Road Not Taken'. In this particular work  can be interpreted in two perspectives. The first perspective is based on a personal interpretation of the works. This depicts how an individual can exercise his or her own independence and self reliance without necessarily involving other people in their decision making.

Critically speaking in this work Robert Frost portrays and individual literary who is confronted by life situation to make a choice between two options which are a life challenge as well. The individual is seen first taking a look at the available options and evaluating the best available option though he does not know exactly what lies ahead in either of these options, the individual is convinced that whatever decision he is going to make will meet his desires and goals and therefore there is no need for any influence from third parties such as society and family members (Pritchard 15).

In this work Frost also depicts the individual as having taken a decision and convinced that he had made the right decision soldiered on and true to his convictions that thy shall not regret about a decision once made it turns out that he had actually made a decision of his life time and in deed it was a good decision and that he has actually had great benefits. This work centers on encouraging individuals to face life boldly and never fear any challenges in life.      Always assess the situation within your self and do not shy away from taking decisions for it only you who can exercise your personal desires and goal while ignoring other influences. In political philosophy, individualism theory of government is such that they should protect individual liberty to act as they wish, so long as they do not infringe the liberties of others. There is what is termed as collectivist political theories, where, rather than having individuals to pursue their own ends, the government ensures that the individual serves the whole society. This is a contrast to the individual liberties.

The second perspective is mainly an ironic interpretation of the works. The ironic interpretation is that the poem is about making choices and rationalizing the decisions we hold with high esteem or regret .In this view, "The Road Not Taken" "is perhaps a famous example of the author's own claims to conscious irony. In the American poetry of a wolf in sheep's clothing, Frost warned “be careful of this one; it's a tricky poem – very tricky. According to this poem is made to a gentle jab at his friend and fellow poet Edward Thomas, with whom he used to take walks through the forest. Thomas always commented at the end-we should have taken different paths and seemed amused at the interpretation of the poem as inspirational. It also gives us the vigor to continually face life with an open mind so as to take up the consequences which may arise as a result of a decision or decisions we have made in life. In this interpretation it is in order to the view that the end justifies the means (Finger 478).

In this interpretation it is seen as inspirational in life and the works are taking life in another level where as one grows up they should know that they will face a life full of choices and these choices are about realizing ones desires and goals. Decision taking in life cannot be over emphasized in this piece of work and that whatever it whether an individual or the society as a whole they must face the choices available in life and take a decision which is in their best interests. However, if those decisions do not work in their favor they should face the repercussions with their heads high, for this is a show of taking responsibility in whatever actions one takes in life.

It is the sociological element in this work which is of great interest since this may lead us to look at a political perspective because the society decision making may have to be shaped by a certain political leadership or dispensation. The society will depend largely on decisions made at position of leadership to look after the society's desires and goals and so their political, economic, social independence and self reliance as opposed to individualized decision taking which is informed by personal convictions. There are also situations whereby the society is segmented in groups in which case the decisions taken by a particular group will be informed by common goals of that particular group and decisions will always be taken in a unanimous agreement amongst the members of that particular group of people. The belief in the importance of the freedom of individuals also termed to as liberalism which is widely accepted in the United States of America and most western countries where individuals are given the liberty to make personal decisions without the interference of the state is widely rejected by religious faiths such as Islam and many countries in Asia.

The two interpretations are interrelated with the decisions we make in relationships. These decisions about relationships and family will largely be informed by individual pursuit for personal satisfaction or by societal affiliations. The same can also be affected by certain political aspects of groups and regulations of government. For example there are countries which permit gay relationships and others which are very strict that relationships should be purely between two adults of opposite sex. This political aspect will shape the kind of decisions one will make in relation with love and family. The society groupings will also shape these decisions since culturally they are bound to a certain way of life and that informs their daily life.

Robert Frost in his poem 'Out, Out-''(1916) he is looking at death as speaks about a young man who dies as a result of injuries on body where his arm is severed off by a buzz saw.

Death is the act of life ending. Naturally death is usually sudden and has devastating effects to the individual, family and the society at large which in ancient and modern society ist received with shock. In the United States of America a person is dead if a certificate is certified by a licensed medical practitioner.

In literal interpretation of this work frost is depicting death as something which is investable and may occur at any time. It is also pointing out that death can occur to any person young and old alike. The young man dies minutes just before they could up their activities of the day. The way the death occurs is such that even the sister could not save him from being injured, and upon injuries even the presence of a professional doctor could not save the life of the young. The doctor tries to resuscitate the young man but all in vain (Parin 64).

Death is also depicted as something which is individualistic and cannot be passed to someone else and cannot be shared to educe it severe effects on an individual. The young man dies in the presence of his dear sister who could not help out or even share the death effects.

When death occurs different people receive the news with a lot of sorrow and tears and at times some waves of grief. The effects of death are adverse since when a family member dies and has been the bread winner of the family what it means is that the family will experience difficulties in terms of paying for their bills, it also causes emotional problems due to the loss of loved ones. Death has economic and social effects in the society when it occurs on persons who are on the productive age. It can also lead to low production as it affects labor as a factor of production when it occurs as a pandemic. However, in his work here Frost shows that death can be stopped if a little caution is exercised, had the elder and experienced operators of the buzz saw worked closely with the young man (Parin 64).  Coping with death in the modern society is varied and it entails a list of therapeutic measures which have been formulated to deal with the effects. These measures includes counseling, stress management and stress therapies to the affected persons so as to torn down the effects and help the affected persons deal with the loss.

In his work Frost, he shows that once death occurs in as much as the affected have to deal with the loss, he points out that life has to continue for those who are living. Whether it occurs to loved ones life has to continue anyway and that once death occurs the next thin is to deal with the challenges ahead as a living person and the dead are dead no more.

It also cites that death used to occur in the olden days and it occurrence did not mean that life will stop. In this poem it is cited that after the boy's heart is felt as it beats slowly dying and the doctor confirms the boy's life was no more and he informs the rest of the person present they are seen walking away in clear indication that life has to continue.

In conclusion, Robert Frost works although some critics challenge his work based on literary perspective and criticism have helped people face life challenges will force and power and that as one continues to read his works you get the feeling that this is connecting you with real life situations.

Works Cited

Finger, L. "Frost's "The Road Not Taken": A 1925 Letter Come to Light". American Literature 50 (3):  November 1978).  478–479''

Grant, R. Frost’s Destiny. New Hampshire: Time Books, 1924.

Holt, D. Frost’s Poems. Chicago: Peterson Books, 1923.

Parini, J. Robert Frost: A Life. London: Macmillan, 2000. 

Pritchard, W.  "On "The Road Not Taken"". Illinois: University of Illinois, 2001.

Pritchard, W.  Frost's Life and Career. New York: Routledge, 2000.

Terry, D. The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-century Poetry in English. Oxford:  Oxford  University Press, 1994.

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