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The Art of Poetry:One paragraph:Please discuss the importance of nature in the poem by Robert Frost. 500 words 

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

BY ROBERT FROST

Whose woods these are I think I know.   

His house is in the village though;   

He will not see me stopping here   

To watch his woods fill up with snow.   

My little horse must think it queer   

To stop without a farmhouse near   

Between the woods and frozen lake   

The darkest evening of the year.   

He gives his harness bells a shake   

To ask if there is some mistake.   

The only other sound’s the sweep   

Of easy wind and downy flake.   

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,   

But I have promises to keep,   

And miles to go before I sleep,   

And miles to go before I sleep.

-Information:The poetry of Robert Frost (1874-1963) is known throughout the world. Three reasons  for such broad appreciation of his poetry are: 1) his very insightful appreciation and understanding of the human condition; 2) his creative capacity and the beauty of his poetry; and 3) the clarity of his language. Frost aimed to create a poetic language that could be readily understood.

    “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” is one of Frost’s most famous poems. In the first two stanzas the persona speaks about the sense of isolation which he feels on this “darkest evening of the year.” The fact that his horse senses that this is unusual is further affirmation of the awareness that this is a problematic moment. The first line of the fourth stanza implies that there is something tempting about the profound tranquillity of the dark and deep forest. One possible interpretation of the last three lines of the fourth and final stanza of the poem is that the persona, when he says that he has “miles to go” before he sleeps, means that he is not ready to die or that he is not ready to stop being creative. Or to state this more positively, the persona asserts that he has the capacity to be more creative and productive and is not prepared to “sleep” (that is, metaphorically, to stop being creative and to die).

    In “Out, Out–” Frost criticizes a system of labor or work which allows children or young people to perform heavy labor. The young boy in the poem dies because of a severe injury which he suffers while operating machinery which is too difficult for him. The boy is not old enough to handle the saw properly. Frost also suggests at the end of the poem that the individual really suffers and dies alone–the rest of society is indifferent to the suffering, hardship, and demise of the individual.

    In “Mending Wall” Frost articulates the inevitable differences between the two neighbors, one of whom tries to achieve a reconciliation or a sense of harmony, while the other wants to preserve a sense of distance. The latter believes strongly that “good fences make good neighbors.” There is also the implication that Frost’s neighbor has inherited this belief in the importance of a sense of distance between neighbors from his father. One of the lines in the poem which clearly distinguishes the two neighbors and their approaches to life is line 24: “He is all pine and I am apple orchard.”

    “Acquainted with the Night” first appeared in Last-Running Brook, Frost’s fifth volume of poetry, which is considered by some critics to represent a shift in his work towards dark and personal themes. The speaker in the poem is alone and isolated from the world around him. The form of the poem is “terza rima,” which is the form Dante, the great Italian poet, used so effectively. One could interpret the persona or speaker of the peom as representing the poet who is observing humanity and the world around him thoughtfully from a distance. There is a melancholy tone here because the poet exists at a distance from the world which he sensitively describes and portrays.

    Some of Frost’s other important poems are “Birches,” “Desert Places,” “Fire and Ice,” “Design,” “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” “The Road Not Taken,” and “The Silken Tent.

Intercultural Communication: How do you think the United States becoming a “minority-majority” nation will influence dominant culture values?