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Frost for the Eighties: The Message of a Celebrated Poem
| Article
# : |
13412 |
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Section : |
THE ARTS
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| Issue
Date : |
9 / 1987 |
1,173 Words |
| Author
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Dinesh D'Souza
Dinesh D'Souza is Senior Domestic Policy Analyst at the White
House. Research assistance for this article was provided by
Angela Grimm, director of the Catholic Center at the Free
Congress Foundation. |
"Stopping by Woods" is Robert Frost's most famous poem, and with good reason. It represents the main themes of Frost's work - his attachment to nature, his examination of the relation of man to his environment, his integration of description and prescription, narrative and philosophy. Yet it presents these themes in more concentrated and profound fashion than many of Frost's other poems. In other words, while embodying the mainstream of Frost's work, it also transcends it. "Stopping by Woods" is distinctively Frost; yet, it is worthy of America's greatest naturalist poet, Walt Whitman.
The first thing that strikes the reader about the poem is its closeness to nature. Frost conveys an intimacy with his environment that goes beyond "description." Aristotle defined art as mimesis or representation - an effort to create a similarity. Somehow Frost breaks through the wall between art and the subject it seeks to imitate, between the copy and the thing in itself. Frost makes us feel part of nature; we almost see the white snowflakes wafting down, the lake shimmering in the wintry night. Not only do we feel that he, the narrator, is present in that setting; we feel that we, the readers, are there as well.
How is this effect achieved? With very simple but evocative language. Frost does not use terms like gelid, frigid, chattering, howling, and so on to describe the weather, the temperature, and the sound of the wind. Rather, he uses simple phrases: "watch his woods fill up with snow," "the sweep of easy wind and downy flake," "lovely, dark, and deep." The sensation is one of serenity in nature. The snow falls softly. The wind is easy. Nature is in no hurry at all.
Triumphalist
This is important because it is nature's quietness and calm that lull the narrator into his feeling of oneness with nature. Nature can be rough and still be beautiful, but if conditions are severe, then man is placed in opposition to it. Under such circumstances, man must conquer nature instead of disappearing in nature. His approach becomes triumphalist instead of pantheist. Frost doesn't want it this way, which is why he has nature appeal gently to man's sensations and imagination. Not being threatened, man responds to this natural call of the wild.
There is a message here - that we are part of nature and we should make the effort to appreciate it. Take time to "stop and smell the roses," as the saying goes. The clutter of the civilized world, as
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