Robert Frost: Lessons of Life

Robert Frost: Lessons of Life

Robert Frost has over fifty poems circulating throughout the world. Frost’s career can be separated between flashes of insight and deeper wisdom. Individuality, love, religion, and nature are all things that can be learned from Frost. His mental, emotional, and spiritual equipment all blend together to form poems which can teach people things about their own life. Love can be learned from Robert Frost’s poetry. Frost’s poem, “Reluctance”, is a representation of love becoming a positive force. It teaches how things from the heart are irrational, but people cannot be reluctant to how they respond to these feelings. There is note of realistic affirmation that accepts the challenge for the human conditions (Isaacs 42). Love should dominate all to Frost. In the conclusion of “Wild Grapes”, love is the theme that dominates the attitude towards life. “All of my poems are love poems,” Frost said (Thompson 185). Love is the strongest expression of forces. There are different levels which suggest the types of love. In “A Prayer in Spring”, there is specific emphasis on the present. There are no problems about the future and what comes after death. It ends with an emphasis on the need to fulfill actions controlled by love (Thompson 189). Nature is something that anyone can learn from every single day. Frost uses references to nature in almost all of his poems. In “Once by the Pacific”, Frost speaks of water and woods. The water is representational of power and how much the water eats away at the woods and the cliffs. This can be translated into many things, but one idea is that God is the water. He is the power. People are the woods and cliffs. God constantly is eating away at people. He wants us to follow Him. A lesson that can be learned from this is to follow and trust in Him and His ways. In “Desert Places”, nature is used to illustrate the thoughts and feelings of the speaker. The entire poem takes place outside on a dark, snowy night. Nothing can be seen. The speaker is alone and upset that the animals can go and escape from their everyday lives. He fears the loneliness of life. The fear is not of the places that the loneliness will take him but of the anguish that will take place in his mind. This teaches how to overcome difficult situations. It shows how to defeat stress and worry in everyday situations. The mind is one of the most dangerous things and Frost’s poetry can help focus in on what is truly important so that one stays focus in his or her goals and plans. Throughout Frost’s works, there are references to a higher God. People can learn about God and His power through Frost’s poems about creation and design. In “Acquainted with the Night”, he uses images of loneliness in the night, however, the speaker indicates his spiritual tormenting as he overlooks his physical anxieties. People have to learn that they must overcome what is of themselves and focus on that which is of God. With “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”, there are images of a need for spiritual investment. Reason is not enough in life, but faith can bring a compromise between the two so that they can work together to create a harmonious lifestyle. In “Design”, there is a focus on a creator. It opens man’s thinking to go beyond reason and look at the aspect of faith (Isaacs). Another idea is hope. Frost plays a lot of importance on staying hopeful in life. In “Peril of Hope”, there is the concept that no matter how things are at one minute in time, they can always change. Nothing is ever promised, but everything can be hoped for in the future. Hope is constantly there and will always be there. It is endless. Hope can be found anytime and any place. There are no limitations on it. This teaches that one should always have hope. Situations can always change for the better at any time. Works Cited Isaacs, Elizabeth. An Introduction to Robert Frost. New York City: Haskell House, 1972. "On "The Road Not Taken"" Welcome to English « Department of English, College of LAS, University of Illinois. 10 Apr. 2010. http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/frost/road.htm. Thompson, Lawrance. Fire and Ice: The Art and Thought of Robert Frost. New York City: Russell & Russell, 1961.

Cited: Isaacs, Elizabeth. An Introduction to Robert Frost. New York City: Haskell House, 1972. "On "The Road Not Taken"" Welcome to English « Department of English, College of LAS, University of Illinois. 10 Apr. 2010. http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/frost/road.htm. Thompson, Lawrance. Fire and Ice: The Art and Thought of Robert Frost. New York City: Russell & Russell, 1961.