Analysis of "The Lockless Door" by Robert Frost
The Lockless Door by Robert Frost shows how an individual is either running away from his conscience or from opportunity. Although there are two sides in this poem, both sides are actually connected to each other in a way so that they make a circle. The Lockless Door show the past and the future at the same time.
If the poem is the case of his conscience, then the individual is perhaps tortured or agonized by something of the past. Frost shows this theme when the door is knocked twice. The person in the poem does not open the door, but he acknowledges the knock. These knocks represent the regrets that the individual has had in his past which is presented in the last two lines of the second stanza, And raised both hands/In prayer to the door. The speaker knows he must open the door and face whatever is behind it, but he seems to be resigned by the knock, as if he can only exist but not thrive. Thus by running away, the individual tinks he can solve the problem, I climbed on the sill/And descended outside. The person in the poem even tries to fool the knock,Back over the sillI bade a Come inTo whoever the knockAt the door may have beenHowever, the person only fools himself when he decides to escape his conscience and go back to the real world. Unfortunately, when faced with the real world, the person once again hides away from his conscience, knowing that it is inevitable to escape his past and his conscience because he will be tormented again. However, as he hides in a new world and Alters with age Frost shows that the person is changing, getting older, altering in a physical fashion. So hopefully, the person will also change in maturity and recognize that when his conscience knocks again, it becomes a window of opportunity.
Thus if this situation had been the latter and the person in the poem is scared of opportunity and the chance of failure, the results of the individuals actions would be very different. This is represented with the actual knock at the door,
If the poem is the case of his conscience, then the individual is perhaps tortured or agonized by something of the past. Frost shows this theme when the door is knocked twice. The person in the poem does not open the door, but he acknowledges the knock. These knocks represent the regrets that the individual has had in his past which is presented in the last two lines of the second stanza, And raised both hands/In prayer to the door. The speaker knows he must open the door and face whatever is behind it, but he seems to be resigned by the knock, as if he can only exist but not thrive. Thus by running away, the individual tinks he can solve the problem, I climbed on the sill/And descended outside. The person in the poem even tries to fool the knock,Back over the sillI bade a Come inTo whoever the knockAt the door may have beenHowever, the person only fools himself when he decides to escape his conscience and go back to the real world. Unfortunately, when faced with the real world, the person once again hides away from his conscience, knowing that it is inevitable to escape his past and his conscience because he will be tormented again. However, as he hides in a new world and Alters with age Frost shows that the person is changing, getting older, altering in a physical fashion. So hopefully, the person will also change in maturity and recognize that when his conscience knocks again, it becomes a window of opportunity.
Thus if this situation had been the latter and the person in the poem is scared of opportunity and the chance of failure, the results of the individuals actions would be very different. This is represented with the actual knock at the door,
Bibliography: The Lockless Door- Robert Frost