By Emily Murphy and Anna Shah
Robert Frost
 1874-1963
 Lived in both the United States and in
England (1912)
 Forced to leave England in 1915
Background of Poem
 Published in The Virginia Quarterly
 In 1942
 World War II
 Drastically different from many of his
other poems
Recording of Poem
Significance of Poem
 Kennedy Inauguration 1961
 Planned to read “Dedication”
 Instead, recited “The Gift Outright”
(“Poetry”)
 Aroused patriotism & reflected upon
America’s history
Main Idea
 Founding and history of America
 Suppression of colonists by British
 “Frost's characterized the poem as
being "about Revolutionary War"
(Von Frank 22)
Themes
 Manifest Destiny:
 “Frost is celebrating manifest destiny,
but history is kept in decidedly soft
focuses. . . .” (Perelman).

Patriotism:
 He compared the poem to “The Star-
Spangled Banner” (Von Frank 22).
Structure
 16 lines blank verse
 Exceptions: lines 6. 10, 11
 Instances of end-stopped and
enjambment
 Caesura line 3
 Enjambment: lines 2-5, 8-9, 12-13
 One Pair of line=one thought
Stand out lines

13
 Parentheses
 Ominous
 Isolation in tone and grammar compared to
other lines (Von Frank 22).
 15
 Vague
 Refers back to unpossession
 Shows that the country is still developing
(Mordecai)
Diction
 Formal
 Anastrophe: 6, 12, 13
 Possessive pronouns repeated: 'our’
and ‘we’
 Religious terms
 Indirect reference to colonialism
Sound
 Lines 6-7: repetition of possess
 ‘We’ sound repeated
 ‘Un’ sound (line 15)
 ‘S’ sound (line 16)
Tone
 Initially melancholy and morose (1-5)
 Patriotic and proud (8-15)
 Optimism and hope (16)
Paradox
 Line 1 and 6: owning the land
 Line 13: irony of gift and war
Works Cited
Von Frank, Albert J. The Explicator. 1st ed. Vol. 38. N.p.: n.p., 1979.
Modern American Poetry. University of Illinois. Web. 18 Sept. 2012.
<http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/frost/gift.htm>.
Perelman, Bob. The Marginalization of Poetry: Language Writing and
Literary History. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1996. Web.
"Poetry and Power: Robert Frost's Inaugural Reading." Poets.org.
Academy of American Poets, 1997. Web. 18 Sept. 2012.
<http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20540>.
Marcus, Mordecai. The Poems of Robert Frost: An Explication. Boston,
MA: G.K. Hall, 1991. Print.
Works Cited (cont’d)
"The Year 1942 From The People History." People History. N.p., n.d.
Web. 18 Sept. 2012.
<http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1942.html>.