“Love and a Question”
Robert Frost was an American poet, the most popular one of his time, and he wrote
poetry plentiful with different moods. Frost’s father was a farmer and wanted him to be one as
well, but Frost’s passion for writing was incredibly strong, and he wanted to do nothing other
than put a pen to paper. While people and nature had a great influence on his poetry, so did the
landscapes and lifestyles of New England. Frost’s poems also deal with human misfortunes and
fears, the obstacles in life, and endurance through life’s difficulties. Both visual and sound
devices lead to different interpretations of Robert Frost’s “Love and a Question.”
The tone, diction, and alliteration in “Love and a Question” are some of the sound
devices that influence the interpretation of the poem. Frost expresses a thought provoking tone
in the poem when the bridegroom “wished her heart in a case of gold / And pinned with a silver
pin” (23-24), bringing up all kinds of visions of meaning. The bridegroom could be talking
about his wife and expressing that he wants the love between them to stay as pure as it is now
and never lose it. However, Frost might have intended the pin to be a pen with which he could
write and the “stranger” the choice between farming and writing, since the bridegroom is
debating whether or not to give this stranger shelter. “The woodbine leaves littered the yard /
Autumn, yes winter was in the wind” (13/15), could just be creating a scene in autumn, or there
could be a deeper meaning. The poet may have intended the leaves littering the yard to represent
confusion, just as he was confused because of his father wanting him to go into agriculture. This
changing of seasons might also be suggesting the important career choice Frost had to make.
Frost’s diction in “Love and a Question” portrays certain characteristics of the stranger because
“He asked with the eyes more than the lips” (5). The stranger’s facial expressions accounted for
his words, so that they weren’t necessary. His mannerisms indeed spoke for him in wanting
shelter, and could have even won him over some sympathy from the bridegroom. As well as
diction, this also accounts for the contemplative tone of the poem because the stranger could also
be so persuasive to receive pity from the bridegroom, as Frost’s father may have been nearly
convincing enough to place farming in his son’s heart. Attention becomes more focused when
Frost says that “The woodbine leaves littered the yard / The woodbine berries were blue…winter
was in the wind” (13-15), because of the use of alliteration to describe the setting of the poem.
Frost may have wanted to catch the mind’s eye at this particular point in the poem in order to put
across a meaning deeper than the literal. In using alliteration, he might have expected the reader
to see the real significance of the setting, like the blue berries symbolizing depression or the
season of winter implying aloofness.
Symbolism, imagery, and metaphors all contribute to the significance of “Love and a
Question.” Frost uses the stranger’s “green-white stick” (3) to symbolize farming as well as
literature. The green color symbolizes a farm, whereas the white symbolizes a piece of paper on
which to write. When the bridegroom wishes to “look at the sky” (10), it is a symbol of outside
guidance. The bridegroom could be seeking help on the option between letting the stranger stay
overnight and just turning him down, or this could be indicating the choice Frost had to make
between doing what his father wished him to do or accomplishing his own goals and following
his passion in writing. It can be imagined what the scene looks like when Frost says:
Within, the bride in the dusk alone
Bent over the open fire,
Her face rose-red with the glowing coal
And the thought of the heart’s desire. (17-20)
This imagery really stands out of the poem due to the fact that the description is so profound.
Frost presumably illustrated this scene with such an effect on purpose, in order to put forward the
setting and allow different readers to interpret it in different ways. The bride’s desire could be
her husband, or “the thought of the heart’s desire” could be the contemplation of Frost’s real
yearnings, as opposed to his father’s. Frost makes it seem as though the bridegroom and bride in
the poem love each other very much, and the bridegroom “wished her heart in a case of gold /
And pinned with a silver pin” (23-24). This metaphor is used to illustrate something nearly
indescribable. A literal meaning is the bridegroom wanting the love he shares with his wife to go
on forever and keep safe. A further explanation is Frost wanting to protect the love with his
father, regardless of the decision he makes pertaining to his future as a farmer or a writer.
Robert Frost’s “Love and a Question” is a poem with a potpourri of possible
interpretations. While there is a literal explanation, a taste of Frost’s history can veer an
interpretation in another direction. This poem is all about life’s choices, and several different
symbols are used to represent such things as outside assistance, keeping the same relationship
with a person in spite of the choice made, as well as the decision itself. In all, humanity and life
come hand in hand with burdensome decisions leading to different opportunities, and Frost’s
own difficult situations are put forth in his poetry.