Robert Frost: Dealing with Death
Dawson Yates
Professor U
15, November 2012
Robert Frost Essay
Dealing with Death “To be subjective with what an artist has managed to make objective is to come on him presumptuously and render ungraceful what he in pain of his life had faith he had made graceful.” (Lowell 1). Robert Frost’s ability to connect nineteenth century renaissance poetry with American poetry makes him one of the best poets of our time. In his poem, Home Burial Frost shows the struggle of a married couple, Amy and her husband, the farmer, and how they cope differently after the death of their child. He addresses three figures of language that makes this poem memorable. Robert Frost was born in San Francisco in 1874. When he was ten, his father passed away and his family decided to move back to New England. Frost emphasized that a poem “never a put-up job…. It begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a loneliness. It is never a thought to begin with. It is at its best when it is a tantalizing vagueness.” (Lowell 1). His father’s absence, I believe that’s why Frost usually writes about a family without a child, or as in Home Burial the baby has passed away. Robert Frost was also the first poet to speak at a Presidential Inauguration in 1961 for President John. F Kennedy, when he recited The Gift Outright. After winning many awards, named as one of America’s best poets, and having a mountain named after him in Vermont, Robert Frost passed away in 1963. The first element of literature Robert Frost makes memorable is imagery. In lines 84 & 86-87, Amy states, “You could sit there with stains on your shoes” and “You had stood the spade up against the wall outside there in the entry, for I saw it.” (Frost 1). Amy realizes and over reacts because no matter what, just like a stain, the absence of her baby will always be there. As for the spade, leaning against the wall until something comes and gets rid of it, the burden of their child’s death will poise her
Professor U
15, November 2012
Robert Frost Essay
Dealing with Death “To be subjective with what an artist has managed to make objective is to come on him presumptuously and render ungraceful what he in pain of his life had faith he had made graceful.” (Lowell 1). Robert Frost’s ability to connect nineteenth century renaissance poetry with American poetry makes him one of the best poets of our time. In his poem, Home Burial Frost shows the struggle of a married couple, Amy and her husband, the farmer, and how they cope differently after the death of their child. He addresses three figures of language that makes this poem memorable. Robert Frost was born in San Francisco in 1874. When he was ten, his father passed away and his family decided to move back to New England. Frost emphasized that a poem “never a put-up job…. It begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a loneliness. It is never a thought to begin with. It is at its best when it is a tantalizing vagueness.” (Lowell 1). His father’s absence, I believe that’s why Frost usually writes about a family without a child, or as in Home Burial the baby has passed away. Robert Frost was also the first poet to speak at a Presidential Inauguration in 1961 for President John. F Kennedy, when he recited The Gift Outright. After winning many awards, named as one of America’s best poets, and having a mountain named after him in Vermont, Robert Frost passed away in 1963. The first element of literature Robert Frost makes memorable is imagery. In lines 84 & 86-87, Amy states, “You could sit there with stains on your shoes” and “You had stood the spade up against the wall outside there in the entry, for I saw it.” (Frost 1). Amy realizes and over reacts because no matter what, just like a stain, the absence of her baby will always be there. As for the spade, leaning against the wall until something comes and gets rid of it, the burden of their child’s death will poise her
Cited: Frost, Robert. “Home Burial.” (1915): Lowell, Amy. “Robert Frost.” Poetry Foundation. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/robert-frost. (2012):