The Wfitet's
Ctalt
RobertFrost
andDescribingNaturalScenes
by BobertS. Boone
Frostdoesnottell us muchaboutthe
crow, he does place it againsta
whitebackground.
He hasthisbird
porformone singleact, one we can
easilyperceive.And becausethe
narratorfindsthis littlesceneimportant enoughto savehis day,we take
anextralookouGelves.
Asingle;mage from nature quietly gathers
meaning
arounditself.
Wui"lllHb:isi"r
to readaboutrugs,elevators,sofas,
VCRS,microwaves,
computers,or
anythingelsethat is madeby humansand belongsinside.But we
will encounterwheelba(ows,apple
trees, hotses, sea shores, foul
weather,wells, shovels,ladders,
leaves,and snow.In the poemsof
RobertFrost,we meetlhe world of
natureand objectsfromth€outside.
Sometimesthese objects stand
alone:moreoftenwe'll experience
them through a nafiator who is
choppingwood, picking apples,
staringdown a well, or being involvedwith naturein some other
way. HoweverFrostintroduceshis
objects,though,he findsways io
makethemvividandmeaningful.
PureFoetry:
"Th€Dust of Snow"
SometimesFrostplac€s his outdoorthingsunadorned,
allbythemselves,for us to savot lt's as if heexpectsus to fill in the detailsandform
a moreclmpletepictureoi whathe
writes.In "The Dustof Snow,"he
doesnot useany modificationat all.
Thecrowandthetreesimplyappear
isolatodfor us to study:
Shookdownonme
Thedustof snow
Froma hemlocklree
Hasgivenmyheart
A changeof mood
Andsavedsomopart
Oi a dayI hadrued.
Short and to the point. Though
28
The Tools of hetry:
Figures of Sp€€ch
But "The Dustof Snow"is unusual.Mostoften,Frostenhanceshis
objectsby usingpoeticdevices.He
almostaiways,lor example,appeals
directlyto oursenses.ln "TheRunaway,"he directsmuchof the languageat our earsas he doscribesa
younghorseon the move:
Hedippedhishead
Andsnorted
atus.Andlhenhehad
to bolt.
Weheardtheminiatur€
thunder
where
heiled...
Frostappealsto other sensesas
well. In the next line, the young
horseis too far awayto hear,but wc
- . .sawhim,orthought
wesaw
him,dimandgray,
Likea shadow
against
thecunain
otiallingflakes.
"A figureof speech,"Frostonce
said,"issayingonothingandmeaningsomething
else."Heusesa wide
rangeof figuresof spe€ch.Youhave
discovered
in yourownr€adingand
writing both the powgr and eificioncyof sirniles,metaphors,and
otherfigures.Frostusesthem repeatedlyto establishclearlythe r€af
nessof obiectsthat populatehis
poems.Lookagainatthelinesaying
the horseis "likea shadowagainst
the curtainof fallingflakesl'In one
,ine he has usedbotha simile(in
stalingd;rectlythatthe appearance
of the horseis " likea shadow")and
(incallingthe backdrop
a metaphor
of snowa-''curtain"),
One tool that Frostusesextensivelyis personification,
theendow-
Ing
ani,
"Or
1
e
T
thin
t{ot
ster
F
"St
Eva
hor
sc€
hor
ing
sh€
f
qul
ste
tior
$ri
l
5
3
a
P
thil
inr
'ing
inst
)ne
0n
lcE
ing of human qualities to objects or
anlmals. He personities water in
"Oncebythe Pacific":
Theshalleredwatermadea misty
rnd
rop
Greal waves lookedover others
comrngIn.
Andthoughtoidoingsomethingto
en-
Thai waterneverdid to landbefore.
Waves,as far as we know, cannot
think,but by pretendingthattheydo,
Frostturns them into tefiifying morF
sters.
Frostalso porsonifesanimals.ln
"Stopping Woods
by
on a Snowy
Evening,"
the narratorreinsup his
horsefora moment
10relisha winter
scene.Insteadof sayingthat the
horse"acts as if it wantsto get going;'he enterstheanimal'smindto
shareits reactionsin humanterms:
[,lylittlehorsemustthinkil qu€er
Tostopwithout
afarmhouse
near
Frost even personifiesabstract
qualitiesin terms of the nalural
wodd,ln "l\4yNovember
Guest;'insteadof simplydescribingthe emotionof sorrow,hetransformsthis abstractionintoa thinkingcreature:
IvlySorrow,
whenshe'sherewith
Thinksthesedarkdaysof autumn
In choosingfiguresof speech,
Frostdoesn'tstop with personification.In " Bereft,"for instance,he unleashesa powerfulmetaphorby
transformingan innocentpile of
leavesinto a snake.Just whenyou
thoughtit was safeto 9o out on the
porch...
Ouliniheporch'ssagging
floor,
gotupina coilandhissed,
Leavos
Blindlystruckat my kneeand
Us andPoetry;
TheMeaningsofNature
Anotherway that Frostenlivens
his outdoorscenosis to placethe
readerina uniquerelationshipto
nature.In "TheNovember
Guest,"we
lookat naturethroughthe eyesof
sorrow.In"TheSoundof Trees,"
we
considertreesin an equallyunique
poetstell us to
manner.Ordinarily,
reveaethese creaturesof nature('l
thinkthatlshallneve.see.. _"), but
Frost,in this poem,asks us to considerthemothorwise:
I wonder
aboutthetrees.
Whydo wewishto b6at
Forevsrthe noiseof these
Morethananothernoise
Socloselo ourdwellingplac€?
What's he saying? lt seems al-
mostsacrilegiousfor anyoneto ask
Arebeauliful
asdayscanbe;
"wonde/'abouttrees.But
he
Shelovesthe bare,the withered us to
does wonder,so forcefullythat we 3
Shewalksthesoddon
pasture
are lorcedto considerhis pointof
tane,
Sorrow,of course,is not some.
ForFrost,in his poemsaboutthe
thingwe findoutsidelikea rakeora outdoors,
is notsimplyoffering
us a
worm.But by lreaiingit so, Frost pleasantslideshowof quaintnature
findsanotherwayfor us to experi- scenes.Rather,he uses natureto
:
encenatureas hedoes.
make profoundpoints.He might
wnlTNG! / ociober 1989
startwitha particular
image,buthe
will invariablyconcludewith an abstractidea;yet somehowhe covers
this treacherousspace without
soundingforcedor preachy.Toward
the middleof"TheSoundof Trees,"
he compardstreesto peoplewho
neverdo anything:"They are thai
that talks of going./But nevergets
awayl' In the end, the nafiator de-
i.
\/
v
I
4
po
KN
sh
cidesthatratherthanbehaving
likea
tree, he will make a "rockless
choice."lvlaybehe shall have"less
to say" than the treesas ihey sway
in the wind,but at least"l shallbe
gone-"
In "Desert Places,"Frost moves
from a descriptionof a snowscen€
to a sweepingstatementaboutlon€linessas a factof life.Heseeslonelinessall aroundhim in the "ground
almostcoveredsmoothin snow"
and in "a few weedsand stubble
showinglast." He sees it in th€
woodsandtheanimals,
andhefinds
it in himself"unawar€s."
Andhe r+
alizesthat he "will be morelonely"
still,andendsonthisbleaknote:
Theycannolscarcmewiththeir
there at bottoml' And he's not talkingaboutdeadfrogs.Fora moment,
herealizes,
hejusimightbelooking
at an ultimatetrulh behindthe ap"somethingmoreotthe
pearancos:
dopihs-andthenI lostit."
ThroughoutFrost'spoetry,we find
suchleapsfroma specificnatural
imageto a profoundabstractquestionabouthumanexistence.
ln"The.
RoadNotTaken;'Frostraisesquestionsaboutthe relalionshipbetween
whatwe do now and whatwe become later onr In "Stopping by
Woodson a SnowyEvening,"he
wantsus to considerthe difference
betweenour workinglivesand momentsolleisure.ln " Birches,"
heexplainsthe humanurge"to getaway
from earth awhile/Andthen come
Between
staB-on starswhereno backto it and beginover."
numanracels,
I havsit inmesomuchnearerhome As you read more of Frost'spo'
Toscaremys€ltwithmyowndesert etry,youwillfindyourownfavorites,
with scenesthat remindyou of your
"Bereft"reachesthe samesub- ownexperience
and ideasthat have
ject of loneliness.Frosl Jirst de- occurred
to you.Youmightalsofind
scribesthewind,the"frothyshorej' yourselfwantingto wite poetryas
the leaves,and ihe cloudsas he
RobertFrostdid-beginning with
stands "holding open a restive humbleobjectsof natureand the
door."Then,heturnsthese
ominous outdoors,and openingup on the
signsintoa lhoughtabouthis own ondlessvistasofthe humanexperiisolation:
ence.
tr
Somelhing
sinister
inthetone
Toldmemysecretmustbeknown: WrttuAttay
WordI wasin thehousealone
l. Whatobjectcan you recallseeing
Somehow
musthavegotien
clearly
outside?Whatwasthe occaabrcad,
sion?Doesit represent
something
to
Wordlwas in mylifealone,
WordI hadnooneleftbutGod.
you
paraas
rccall
it
now?
In
a
You
In "For Once,Then, Something," graph, share this object with a
the narrator gazes down a well and
reader,trying to showwhat it is that
wonders about "whatever it was lay
youfindso compelling.
30
Il. Frostis ableto movefromthespecificlo the abstractwithoutseeming
too preachy.After you describe
something
fromoutside,ask your
self:"Whal doesthis proveabout
somethingbigger?"Then find a
way,oitherin poetryor prose,to de
velopyourpoint.
lll. Writean imaginarydiscussion
Thesubject:
amongseveralpoople.
asinglebirchtreo-Thepanelshould
includea representative
of a cgnservationgroup,th€presidentof a timberclmpany,a toad,RipVanWin'
I
Pe
Wr
pE
on:
I
N,
in.l
Ja<
sot
ot4
Ll6.h^d.n.lc^^n
lV Considerthesequotationsabout
nature:
"NeverdoesNaturesay one thing
andWisdomanother."
-.JUVenal
" Natureabhorsa vacuum."
-Rabelais
"One touch of naturemakesthe
wholeworld
kin."
- Shakespeare
"So Naturedealswith us and takes
Our playthings
one by one,and by
the hand
Leadsus to rest."
-Longfellow
In paragraphs,
respondio anyor
all of these.Whichto youisthe mcst
unusual?The most ambiguous?
I netrue$a
V, Frostdoesn'twriteaboutTV sets
or laserdiscs,but maybeyou can.
Writea storyor a poemaboutsome
thingthatisnotpariot naiure.
ocrober 1989/ WFITING!
DE
ga
thi
no
or
ter
ne
un
po
0r
rat
po