Robert Frost as a Modernist Poet
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Robert Frost: Modern day poet In spite of the Pastoral element that was predominant in all of Robert Frost’s poems, he was still considered a modern poet because the poetry that he wrote was well endowed with the many problems that men who lived in the modern world faced with Science and Technology. He was a contemporary and great friend to such modernist greats as Ezra Pound and Wallace Stevens. Although he resembled these modernist poets, Frost was quite different from the rest of the modern poets of his time. The modern elements of his poetry are those of capitalism, the self-centeredness of the mordent man, the bored existence, isolation, dilemma, and symbolism. The two poems that seemed to me most striking modern in nature were The Death of the Hired Man and Home Burial. The two poems are similar in nature that in both of them there is a conflict between the husband and the wife. Here the husbands represent a view of life which is very antithetical to wives’. In the former poem, there are three characters: Warren, Mary and Silas. Warren, the domineering husband, represented capitalism, Mary, the cowed wife, is a foil to her husband, and Silas represents the lot of the millions of the workers who are the victims of the modern capitalistic society . There are millions of workers, such as Silas, around the world who toil and toil , but remain unrewarded die of an unlamented death.
2 In this poem, Silas was the central figure, due to the poem recording his death. Silas’s character is that of pathetic and sympathetically arousing, who in his old age, is a helpless and useless soul. He is alienated from the world, with no shelter over his head or home to go to. His very poor self respect makes him feel ashamed to his brother and as a result he is also isolated from his rich banker brother. During the busy days, Silas was accused by Warren of abandoning the farm. This confused Warren, and he often wondered
Robert Frost: Modern day poet In spite of the Pastoral element that was predominant in all of Robert Frost’s poems, he was still considered a modern poet because the poetry that he wrote was well endowed with the many problems that men who lived in the modern world faced with Science and Technology. He was a contemporary and great friend to such modernist greats as Ezra Pound and Wallace Stevens. Although he resembled these modernist poets, Frost was quite different from the rest of the modern poets of his time. The modern elements of his poetry are those of capitalism, the self-centeredness of the mordent man, the bored existence, isolation, dilemma, and symbolism. The two poems that seemed to me most striking modern in nature were The Death of the Hired Man and Home Burial. The two poems are similar in nature that in both of them there is a conflict between the husband and the wife. Here the husbands represent a view of life which is very antithetical to wives’. In the former poem, there are three characters: Warren, Mary and Silas. Warren, the domineering husband, represented capitalism, Mary, the cowed wife, is a foil to her husband, and Silas represents the lot of the millions of the workers who are the victims of the modern capitalistic society . There are millions of workers, such as Silas, around the world who toil and toil , but remain unrewarded die of an unlamented death.
2 In this poem, Silas was the central figure, due to the poem recording his death. Silas’s character is that of pathetic and sympathetically arousing, who in his old age, is a helpless and useless soul. He is alienated from the world, with no shelter over his head or home to go to. His very poor self respect makes him feel ashamed to his brother and as a result he is also isolated from his rich banker brother. During the busy days, Silas was accused by Warren of abandoning the farm. This confused Warren, and he often wondered
Cited: Literary Articles: Robert Frost as a modern poet. n. Web 22 Sep 2013