Semester 1 Writing Ms Clark 32
Uncovering the Social Commentary in Modernist Poetry
The anti-modernist poet Robert Frost did not want to write poetry in new forms but instead kept the traditional form in his poems but added uncommon content in a more accessible way. Frost had a distaste for modernism and he lived in rural areas to support the fact that he did not like modernism. He restored the tradition of New England regionalism. His poems had many instances of symbolism, which made them harder to understand, and was one of Frost’s ways of trying to fool the reader. In “The Road Not Taken” Frost used symbolism to show that the roads were not literal roads that were walked and drove on, but instead they symbolized the paths that are taken in life. In “After Apple Picking” Frost associated apple picking, or the harvest, with the speaker, and how the end of the harvest represented the end of his life, or so it seemed. In his works, Robert Frost used symbolism to mislead the reader from the actual meaning of the poem, and to emphasize the relationship between humans and nature. In his writing, Robert Frost used a technique of symbolism to try and fool the reader and mislead them. For example, in the “Road Not Taken,” the main focus of the poem was about roads. However, these roads were not the roads that people walked on and cars drove on, but instead they represented the paths that are taken in life, such as the choices that are made every day. When Frost said, “two roads diverged in a yellow wood,” he could have meant literal roads, but the two roads have also symbolized two choices, but the speaker was only able to choose one. (NAAL 1960) Another example of symbolism in Frost’s works is from the poem “After Apple Picking.” In this poem, Frost symbolized the harvesting of apples as the life of the speaker, and how the end of the harvest meant the end of the end of the speaker’s life. Frost says, “But I am done with apple-picking now” to show that the speaker had finished his job of apple
The anti-modernist poet Robert Frost did not want to write poetry in new forms but instead kept the traditional form in his poems but added uncommon content in a more accessible way. Frost had a distaste for modernism and he lived in rural areas to support the fact that he did not like modernism. He restored the tradition of New England regionalism. His poems had many instances of symbolism, which made them harder to understand, and was one of Frost’s ways of trying to fool the reader. In “The Road Not Taken” Frost used symbolism to show that the roads were not literal roads that were walked and drove on, but instead they symbolized the paths that are taken in life. In “After Apple Picking” Frost associated apple picking, or the harvest, with the speaker, and how the end of the harvest represented the end of his life, or so it seemed. In his works, Robert Frost used symbolism to mislead the reader from the actual meaning of the poem, and to emphasize the relationship between humans and nature. In his writing, Robert Frost used a technique of symbolism to try and fool the reader and mislead them. For example, in the “Road Not Taken,” the main focus of the poem was about roads. However, these roads were not the roads that people walked on and cars drove on, but instead they represented the paths that are taken in life, such as the choices that are made every day. When Frost said, “two roads diverged in a yellow wood,” he could have meant literal roads, but the two roads have also symbolized two choices, but the speaker was only able to choose one. (NAAL 1960) Another example of symbolism in Frost’s works is from the poem “After Apple Picking.” In this poem, Frost symbolized the harvesting of apples as the life of the speaker, and how the end of the harvest meant the end of the end of the speaker’s life. Frost says, “But I am done with apple-picking now” to show that the speaker had finished his job of apple