Nature has inspired countless poets from primitive times to the present. They have used it as a metaphor for virtually all human emotions-his stormy brow, her sky blue eyes, as wild as a summer storm. Very few, however, have so masterfully crafted their verse to fully express the range of nature’s power and influence, or suited the tone of a poem to encompass both human nature and ‘true’ nature. This is true in the poetic works of Robert Frost. The aspects of nature that are continually demonstrated in the poems of Frost symbolize both the physical world and its changes, and the nature of humans.
It can easily be argued that Frost believed that little difference existed between humanity’s inner nature and the nature of the world which surrounded him. Time and again Frost personifies nature in human terms and points out the many ways in which what happens in an individual’s life is a reflection of what is occurs in the natural world. In fact, it can be said that this poet viewed nature as being separate from humanity only by the virtue by which humanity removes itself from the outside world. In other words, nature never leaves, humans are the ones to leave nature. Many of Frost’s poem clearly demonstrate the ways in which the peace of being fully juxtaposed to nature when a human steps outside their rigid human realm and learn to appreciate their natural surroundings.
Robert Frost has always been noted for his incredible poetry that is full of imagery, symbolism, tone, and depth. The depth in his poems appears to be most often portrayed through his use of symbolism, as this is one veritable way to give the reader something to dwell upon and examine. For example, if Fr…
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…deep.
But when was that ever a bar
To any watch they keep?
This poem portrays in a metaphorical manner the constant awareness by men that they must die; and it does this without appealing to the pity or horror acquainted with death. This poem leads the reader to contemplate the fast within the metaphor quite steadily.
Frost was a rural Yankee whose writings reflect everyday experiences-his own experiences, but was one who saw metaphorical dimensions in the everyday things he encountered. These everyday encounters held ground as his subject manner, combined with the rural setting of New England nature, seasons, weather and times of day. Frost’s goal was to write his poetry in such a way that it would cover familiar ground, but in an unfamiliar way or uncommon in expression.
Works Cited and Consulted
Frost and Nature, www.frostfriends.org
An Inward Collapse of the Human Perspective in Forster’s A Passage to India
An Inward Collapse of the Human Perspective in Forster’s A Passage to India
The reverberation of sound in the form of an echo is threaded throughout E.M. Forster’s A Passage to India, and the link between the echo and the hollowness of the human spirit is depicted in the text. The echo is not heard in the beginning of the text when the English newcomers, Mrs. Moore and Ms. Quested, arrive in India; it is more clearly heard as their relationship with India gains complexity. The influence of the colonizers and the colonized on one another is inevitable; however, the usual assumption is that the colonists are the most successful in imposing their values and ideologies on the individuals whom they view as the “natives.” In an introduction to a text depicting a portrait of the colonizer and the colonized, Jean-Paul Sartre states that in attempting to dehumanize colonized individuals, the colonist becomes dehumanized himself. “A relentless reciprocity binds the colonizer to the colonized-his product becomes his fate” (Sartre xxviii). While Forster’s text possesses numerous instances of the English losing a humanistic perspective as they place the Indians in a submissive role and treat them as subjects, it can be argued that Sartre’s observation of the dynamic existing between the colonizer and the colonized is somewhat manipulated in Forster’s text-instead of being dehumanized from their exposure to the colonized, the colonizers gain greater insight into the essence of humanity. The English characters in the text are embraced by the mystery and spirituality of the Orient, which is the focus of their imperialism. As a result, the English join their Indian counterparts in looking inward and outward to discover that the void a…
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…rain and snows!
O day and night, passage to you!
-Walt Whitman
Works Cited
Crews, Frederick C. E.M. Forster: The Perils of Humanism. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1962.
Forster, E.M. A Passage to India. San Diego: Harcourt Brace