Robert Frost’s poetry effectively deals with the critical ideas of life and death. Frost successfully relies on the forms and features of poetry to convey key philosophical views about meaning of life. Two poems that illustrate this are, “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening” and “After Apple Picking”. Both of these poems are concerned with the persona contemplating the meaning of life and death. Frost utilises several poetic techniques such as alliteration, rhyme, metaphor and personification to demonstrate these important ideas.
Firstly, the power of Frost’s poetry to convey important ideas is relevant in the poem “Stopping by the Woods on Snowy Evening”. This poem reflects upon the deeper issues of life and the choices made by individual. Frost wrote the poem after his tragic experience with Elinor White, who rejected his initial proposal for marriage. This poem tells of the experience of a person who is literally stopping by an acquaintance’s woods, whilst there he begins to think about the philosophical question of life and death.
The use of repetition in the line ‘Miles to go before I sleep’ further portrays the important ideas of life and death. The poem allows the reader to understand Frost’s intentions in reinforcing that we experience many things in our live, both good and bad. However, in the end we all face an inevitable death. This philosophical viewpoint is further reinforced through the metaphor of ‘sleep’ meaning death. This forces the responder to realise that fact that death unavoidable. The technique of metaphor and repetition allow Frost to effectively contemplate philosophical ideas about life and death.
Furthermore, alliteration helps to emphasise the philosophical ideas dealt within the poem. ‘The only other’ reinforces Frost’s isolation and connects to his own personal experiences of suicide. The responder is then forced to