Janessa Brown Brother Hartvigsen, Eng.251 Winter 2012

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ROBERT FROST “Forgive me my nonsense”

A walk down The Road Not Taken

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Recess mid-Idaho winter at Lincoln Elementary was often frigid and miserable. Students, including

myself, made daily attempts to flee the cold and hide in the safety of the bathroom during recess. The teachers regularly monitored the popular hideout and had to send us back out to face the bitter Idaho winter several times a day. “You must stay outside until the bell rings. Hiding in the bathroom is bad,” they would tell us. After the bell rang, I’d hurry inside and hand the teacher my math homework from the day before. “You did so well! Good work, Janessa!” she would tell me, placing a coveted golden star above my neatly written equations. The days, weeks, and years of our young lives carry on like this: bad is bad, good is good. If you’re good you’re not bad, and if you’re bad you’re not good. Good choices will have a positive result. Bad choices will result negatively, and there is always one of each. Robert Frost’s ambiguous, symbolic story of a man standing at a fork in the road of life suggests an alternative perspective. Far beyond elementary school, people have a tendency to think in “black and white”. Especially, I think, in an LDS culture where we are constantly reminded that good and evil cannot coexist, but what about good and better? Are there decisions that are different yet equally acceptable? This is one of many questions The Road Not Taken provoked from my mind. When faced with a fork in the road, where one looks “just as fair” as the other, which is the better option? Life consists of a billion decisions, and our options are various shades of gray (bad and worse, good and better). The choice is ours, but a fear of regret, due to limited experience time, stresses the importance of our choices. Within a plethora of questions and emotions, this poem evokes personal feelings of frustration and contemplation about decisions past, present, and future.

Introduction

Robert Lee Frost 1874-1963

o March 26, 1874: born in San Francisco, California

o 1890: First poem published in his high school newspaper in Lawrence, Massachusetts

o 1894: First achieved professional publication when a Dartmouth literary journal (The independent)

published “My Butterfly: An Elegy”. o Soon after, he found himself frustrated with the routine of formal academics and dropped out.

o 1895: Marries Elinor White

o 1897: Resumed college education at Harvard University only to drop out again two years later.

o 1912: Resigned from teaching, sold his farm, and moved his family 120 miles west to focus on his poetry

o April 1, 1913: His first collection of poems, A Boy’s Will, is published. It was comprised of 32 poems

already very characterized by his interest in nature and humanity.

o May 1914: North of Boston is published by David Nutt and is recognized as his most important (or at least most original) volume.

o Moves 120 miles west of London to live near two Georgian poets: Wilfrid Gibson and Lascelles Abercrombie and meets his new best friend, Lawrence Thompson.

o 1923: New Hampshire received the Pulitzer Prize. This would be the first of four for Frost. {Collected Poems (1930), A Further Range (1936) A Witness Tree (1942)}

o 1939: Lawrence Thompson assumed the role of Frost’s biographer.

o Thompson inspired Frost to write “The road not taken”, and in 1942 became a publishing poet himself.

o January 29, 1963: Died in Boston Massachusetts

o 1966: Thompson publishes the first volume of Frost’s biography: Robert Frost: The Early Years.

Biographical Impressions

As a 40 year-old farmer/teacher living in London, Robert Frost had only published a handful of poems (around a dozen). Disheartened, but still in love with poetry, he took one of the biggest risks of his life that may have ultimately led to his success. In 1912, he resigned from his teaching job, sold his farm, and moved his family (a wife and four children) 120 miles west to focus on his poetry. Here he would meet his future biographer, motivator, and friend: Lawrence Thompson. His wife later recalled how their families would spend

hours together, while Frost and Thompson took long walks talking mostly about poetry. These walks were the inspiration for one of Frost’s most famous poems, The Road Not Taken. Their relationship was one of mutual encouragement, as Frost encouraged Thompson to also publish his poetry (which he did in 1942). This period was a launch pad, so to speak, for Frost’s creative abilities. It would ultimately result in multiple Pulitzer prizes, the position of the Consultant of Poetry in the Library of Congress, magazine publication of his work, and prestigious public reciting of his poetry (such as The Gift Outright at the Inauguration of President Kennedy).

http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/192

This website contains everything from a biography to a complete list of works (plus Robert Frost Christmas cards). Some of the information includes Robert Frost’s incredible speeches at various conventions (some of which are included on this website). He was highly regarded, and even read his poetry and ate in the White House with Ezra Pound. He was also offered “the Consultant in Poetry” position in the library of congress (fulfilled for 4-5 years), was named “America’s great poet-philosopher”, and read a poem (The Gift Outright) at President Kennedy’s inauguration. He’s identified as one of the most popular poets of the 20th century.

http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/frost/frost.htm This educational website provides biographies written by two different people (providing two different perspectives): William H. Pritchard and Stanley Burnshaw. Pritchard focuses more on Frost’s personal life and background while Burnshaw focuses on his career and works of literature. It also provides short insights and analyses of many of Frost’s poems, by various different authors and critics. The layout of this website is small and manageable. The variety of opinions it presents offers the reader a well-rounded learning experience.

“In three words I can sum up

everything I’ve learned about

life: It goes on.”

Robert Frost on the Web:

Critical Interpretations

Frost’s Way of Speaking Carol Frost

In “Frost’s Way of Speaking”, Carol Frost, a writer for the New England Review, explores Robert Frost’s

ability to use tone as a primary way to convey the mood and meaning of his poetry. She describes Frost’s diction as “colloquial”, meaning informal or ordinary which makes his poetry seemingly easy to understand. On the contrary, Carol suggests that Frost’s poems are often misinterpreted because of this deceiving surface. His wording may be simple and straight forward, but his tone is complex and full of ambiguity. Priding himself on “catching” these tones, he fills his work with contextual clues. Moods, Frost says, can be conveyed through the correct harmonization of vowels and consonants. Carol explains further that long e’s and n’s, for example, may lead to a grieving or sorrowful mood while short a’s and long o’s might “connote pleasure or sighing”. In addition, Frost uses “old-fashioned”, conversationally formal language to contribute to the archetypical themes in The Road Not Taken. The tone, Carol suggests is what we need to be paying attention to. From this simple element, she quoted Frost claiming that tone can portray the meaning without knowing or having an understanding of all the words. “[Tone] is the abstract vitality of our speech” and is the tool an author and reader alike should understand first and foremost. Tone is the tool essential to vocal communication, and, according to Carol and Robert, just as important in interpreting Frost’s A Road Not Taken. (243 words)

The Road Not Taken Judith Messerle

In “The Road Not Taken”, Judith Messerle, a librarian for the Boston Medical and Harvard Medical Libraries, explores and interprets frosts poem from a modern political, social, and ethical perspective. The divergent roads Frost identifies in his poem are bombarding us, as Messerle suggests, especially in the field of technology. She exaggerates her emphasis on the lines “And I shall be telling this with a sigh…. Somewhere ages and ages hence” as she breaks down personal privacy, intellectual property, and accessible quality information issues. She believes that “despite the moral complexities of the market place, we have a moral imperative to choose the high road”(Messerle, 1). Messerle believes that Frost’s intending to communicate that “the road less traveled by” is the road of reason and moral principle. In decision-making, we need to be aware of our options and the potential consequences of our actions. Will we look back on our life with that ambiguous, Robert Frost sigh when all is said and done? The sigh’s meaning, Messerle implies, will be derived from our proactive decision making process. If we are less than proactive, our sigh may be one of regret and disappointment. She seems to suggest that even if we look back at our decisions or opinions to find that they weren’t all correct, doing something is better than living a passive life. A proactive lifestyle will result in a more reflective, contemplative sigh at the end of the road. (239 words)

A Poet’s Quarrel: Jamesian Pragmatism and Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” John Savoie

In “A Poet’s Quarrel: Jamesian Pragmatism and Frost’s The Road Not Taken”, John Savoie, a writer for The New England Quarterly with a Ph.D. from Yale University, applies Jamesian Pragmatism to explain how Frost’s narrator can take both “the road less traveled” and “the road not taken”. While there are many who believe Frost’s poem is a sort of “wolf in sheep’s clothing” designed to “cultivate customers” (Savoie) and then mock them, Savoie, while supporting the poem’s marketability, suggests that we’ve been searching for the wrong message, the wrong conclusion. Rather than conveying a fundamental principle, he suggests that Frost is portraying a “human predicament”. The road or path is “the root metaphor in Jamesian Pragmatism”, and rather than symbolizing direction, it symbolizes “self-generated and self-defining movement through choices towards consequence”(Savoie). Many see the diverging roads as an image of life’s choices. Savoie prefers to interpret it as an opportunity to exercise what he calls “the will to believe”. This pragmatic theory states that humanity believes things into reality, and must have three characteristics (seemingly paradoxical) to be defined as such. A pragmatic choice must be “living, not dead; forced, not unavoidable; and momentous, not trivial”. The Jamesian portion of Savoie’s theory is developed as Frost’s narrator stands in the past, present, and future all at once. This timelessness is what allows the narrator to “take the road less traveled” as well as “the road not taken”. (239 words)

Robert Frost: Or the Spiritual Drifter as a Poet By: Yvor Winters

In “Robert Frost: Or the Spiritual Drifter as a Poet”, Yvor Winters tries to persuade us that Robert Frost is “misunderstood and overestimated” through The Road Not Taken and other various poems. He introduces Frost as an “Emersonian Romantic” who is also identified as a “spiritual drifter” in The Road Not Taken. This spiritual drifting, as implied by Winters, refers to Frost’s apparent inability to really delve into his subject. He believes that the poet is “lazy”, wandering aimlessly with his diction. He claims that Frost leaves an unnecessary “burden of critical intelligence” on the reader, and further argues that Frost is simply frustrating his readers as there is no concrete meaning in his poem. The Road Not Taken is labeled by this critic as charming, vaguely melancholy, and uncertain. Winters pins the issue partly to the following psychological critique: Frost, unlike many great poets, didn’t have the guts to really “hurt” anyone or anything, and thus his wording was not direct or strong enough. Winters, with respect for Frost’s popularity and obvious creative talent, sees him as a mediocre poet at best who was simply working the market. A Road Not Taken, for this critic, has no purpose beyond making money and confusing the public. (206 words)

Principle Critics

Jay Parini

While Frost may be one of the most well-known and loved American poets in history, his works and biography are surrounding by an abundance of controversy (which probably only contributes to his popularity). He has been identified as selfish, irresponsible, and a failure as a father and husband. Jay Parini, while not denying the accuracy of these statements, claims that Frost was justified in them in that he was only human. His manic depression, his children’s tragic ends (suicide, illness, insane asylum), and his wife’s battle with various illnesses all contributed to the difficulty and thus justification (according to Parini) of Frost’s life. However, as a very successful American writer and academic, Parini’s writing is argued to be better than the author’s he writes about. Some believe his critiques fill in the blanks of what Frost was missing making it sound better than it was originally presented as. Regardless of these accusations, Parini remains loyal and sympathetic to Frost to this day.

Lionel Trilling

Lionel Trilling, an influential American literary critic, author, and teacher in the 20th century, is famous, in his critiques of Robert Frost, for identifying Frost as “a terrifying poet”. His critiques, unlike many 20th century critics, have held the interest of the 21st century. In 1958, at Frost’s 85th birthday party, Trilling was invited to be the guest speaker. It was here that he admitted to only recently appreciating Frost’s work. He couldn’t understand how people were enjoying the depressing truths that Frost uncovered about humanity. “I regard Robert Frost as a terrifying poet,” said Trilling. He later sent an apologetic letter for his remarks, but Frost replied saying that it made his birthday surprising and entertaining! Trilling was regarded as a “city boy”, not very fond of the country, and Frost’s depictions are often critical of city life and praises nature and solitude.

Scholarly Response

The Road Not Taken as an Archetype

Archetypical symbols, motifs, and images dominate Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” building the poem up to be an epitome of life’s archetypes. Universally, human beings are constantly making choices that lead them down the paths of life. Frost ambiguously approaches this idea in “The Road Not Taken” in a way that ultimately leaves the reader asking more questions than they have found answers to. When faced with a decision where the options seem equally acceptable, which path is the best path? Can one actually take more than one path? Or are we limited? Why does Frost’s narrator say he will tell this story with a “sigh”? (Etc.) As Frost explores one of humanities many dilemmas (decision-making) through imagery and themes, we explore how these elements symbolically contribute to the poem’s archetypal aura. Symbolism appears predominantly in the image of the two diverging roads. However, the woods offer significant insight in uncovering Frost’s message as well. Woods or trees are symbols of the continuous and inexhaustible cycle of life, and are thus a significant contribution to the poem’s setting and mood. The woods are a natural representation of the essence of decision-making. It is a repetitive, never-ending cycle that is nonetheless unavoidably important. Whether we are choosing to do or not to do something may ultimately be part of the symbolism in Frost’s two diverging roads. These roads seem to create the most controversy among readers. How can there be two roads worn “really about the same”, and yet “one less traveled by”? First, we need to realize that Frost seems to be taking the art of decision-making and attaching to it a “black and white” criterion. He is offering us only two roads (representing choices), when in “real life” we have a variety of choices. This “fork in the road” symbol is a finite, simplification of reality that may indirectly imply that the actual roads are not of real importance or even the focus despite the popularity of the image. The emphasis may rest on the nature of the choices made when we come to these diverging roads (regardless of how many there actually are). Are they proactive choices? Or passive? This would give creative freedom to the narrator’s infamous “sigh” in the last stanza of Frost’s poem. This sigh could be, on one hand, a sigh of content reflection, and on the other a sigh of mournful regret (with a multitude of gray shades in between). Frost further makes use of the scenery to support his archetype. The color yellow, found in the first line of the poem, is generally symbolic of joy and enlightenment. As it is used to describe the wood, we would assume the season to be fall. Especially after we find that the ground is covered in leaves. However, Frost never misses a chance to be ambiguous, so the season is not entirely known. There seem to be qualities of summer or spring as well with the “grassy” paths covered in “undergrowth”. Northrop Frye, as quoted in “A Handbook of Critical Approaches of Literature”, identifies the seasons as having certain archetypal genres: Spring denotes a comedy, summer a romance, and fall an irony. Thus, the significance of the ambiguity of the season is that critical interpretations have been made from each of these angles. Some believe that Frost is simply mocking his reader’s through an interpretable poem. Others recognize Frost’s romantic style and historical background to suggest a sort of “hallmark message” unfolding in the poem, and still others contribute to the idea that Frost means the exact opposite or something entirely different from what he’s saying. While Frost’s poem seems to uncover more inquiries than answers, these underlying, archetypal themes seem to suggest that the right inquiries are what may effectively guide our decision-making process. (The Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature, pp. 225-233) (632 words)

Works Cited

Benfey, Christopher. “A Terrifying Poet.” The New York Times. Henry Holt & Company, 25 April 1999. Web. 29 March 2012.

This is a brief article concerning a couple of Frost’s critics (Jay Parini and Lionel Trilling) as well as a short, sad biography of Frost.

Frost, Carol. “Frost’s Way of Speaking.” New England Review 23.1 (2002): 119-133. JSTOR. Web. 12 March 2012. Carol and Robert share a love for the imagery of nature and the nature of humanity in their writing. Carol, a well-renown author, poetic critic, and teacher, is praised for her “layer” style of observation. She peels through poetry like an onion exploring each aspect of the organic unity in writing. This specific critique focuses on Robert Frost’s ability to use tone in his poem as a primary tool to convey his message.

Gerber, Philip L. "Robert Frost." Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 28 Mar. 2012.

Gerber presents a biography of Robert Frost life from his school days to his death. He explores Frost’s popularity as a 20th century poet. His ability to take ordinary, realistic situations and place them into beautiful verses of poetry is what ultimately captures the hearts of Frost’s audience. Frost gives us a relatable, yet in-depth look at ourselves.

Guerin, Wilfred L. et al. “A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature.” New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. Print.

This is a handbook is a tool readers may use to learn the critical theories and practice applying them to various literature. Hart, Linda. “The English Years of Robert Frost.” Contemporary Review (2008): 200-206. Questia. Web. 24 February 2012.

Hart is a freelance writer, editor, and lecturer who has made Robert Frost one of her professional focuses. This biography emphasizes Frost’s acquaintances, friends, and colleagues who may have influenced his work as well as Frost’s gradual poetic progression.

Messerle, Judith. “The Road Not Taken.” Journal of the Medical Library Association 89.1 (2001): 1-7. The Medical Library Association. Web. 12 March 2012.

Messerle, as a Librarian for the Boston Medical Library, is not your typical literary critic. Her critique is unique as she interprets Frost’s poem in accordance with modern social and political issues like intellectual property rights.

Sheehy, Donald G. “The Poet as a Neurotic: The Official Biography of Robert Frost.” American Literature 58.3 (1986): 393-410. JSTOR. Web. 25 February 2012.

As if Frost’s life were not controversial enough, Sheehy also presents the controversy concerning his official biographer and good friend, Lawrence Thompson. Many have identified his biographies (The Early Years and The Years of Triumph) as a “deliberate character assassination”. However, part of the problem was that Frost hated biographies, making it fairly difficult to write accurately about him without his help. Sheehy presents multiple other arguments about the objectivity of Frost’s various biographies.

Savoie, John. “A Poet’s Quarrel: Jamesian Pragmatism and Frost’s The Road Not Taken.” The New England Quarterly 77.1 (2004): 1-20. ProQuest. Web. 28 March 2012.

Savoie does not reject the idea that Frost wrote for the market. However, he does not believe that was his primary purpose. He points out that Frost knew he was writing a “tricky poem” and warned his readers to read carefully. Sovoie claims that Jamesian Pragmatism is the key to unlocking the mysteries of The Road Not Taken.

Winters, Yvor. “Robert Frost: Or, the Spiritual Drifter as Poet.” The Sewanee Review 56.4 (1948): 564-596. JSTOR. Web. 12 March 2012.

Many critics praise Frost’s colloquial diction and undertone’s. However, Winters, as a 20th century American poet and critic, believes the public has been grossly mislead. He suggests that this conversational style is entirely inappropriate for poetry. Frost, in his opinion, was simply a lazy poet working the market.