‘The Chalk Pit’ by Edward Thomas and ‘The Woodpile’ by Robert Frost are both about being transported to a specific place and these places have an effect on the speaker(s).
The setting of ‘The Chalk Pit’ is most likely at the foot of Wheatham Hill in Hampshire and nearby is an abandoned chalk mine. ‘The Woodpile’ is set in a frozen swamp/wood in wintertime. Both of the poems have similar settings and this verifies the fact that Frost and Thomas were both very similar people, both in poetry and in real life.
Both poems are arranged in one large stanza. This is to keep the conversational nature of ‘The Chalk Pit’ flowing and realistic. Although ‘The Chalk Pit’ is essentially one large conversation, there is evidence of this speech or thought in ‘The Woodpile’, i.e. in lines 2-3 when the speaker is deliberating over whether he should turn away or continue home. “I will turn back from here. No, I will go on farther – and we shall see.” The idea of a conversational nature being used is furthermore implied when the speaker says “and we shall see”. This draws the reader into the poem, and makes them feel more included in what’s happening. The dash being used as a pause also emphasises the length of time if takes the speaker to think about what he’s going to do, and makes the poem seem personal and accessible to the reader.
‘The Woodpile’ is written in the first person narrative and is similar to many of Frost’s other poems. However ‘The Chalk Pit’ is written from the point of view of two speakers. One speaker comes across as very down to earth and aware of what is around him, while the second speaker is more pensive, reflective and imaginative. The fact the poem is from two people’s perspective makes it stand out from other poems, ...
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...f the poem is very melancholy (“With the smokeless burning of decay”) and seems like a surprising way to end such a mellow and peaceful poem. ‘The Chalk Pit’ is similar in tone because the reader can imagine the speakers, speaker B in particular, using a soft voice so as not to metaphorically disturb the chalk pit. This adds to the ideas of two peaceful and undisturbed settings, in which nature and animals are at peace.
The most striking similarity between the poems is that they are both set in a similar landscape. This is possibly down to the fact that Frost and Thomas had similar writing styles and ideas; due to the fact they were lifelong friends. I believe that ‘The Chalk Pit’ and ‘The Woodpile’ are two very simplistic, accessible and vivid poems, which capture and hold the reader’s attention through the use of imagery and appealing to the reader’s senses.
The poem Fire and Ice is nine line long and is an example of a briefly ironic literary style of Frosts work. Fire and Ice ranges between two meter lengths. The poem uses interwoven rhymes founded on “ire,” “ice,” and “ate.” Although the meter is irregular it does keep up an iambic foot throughout the poem. The first line of the poem is a tetrameter followed by a dimeter which is followed by five line of tetrameter, ending with two lines of dimeter. The division of the line lengths is to render natural interruptions in the poem causing the reader to stop and reread what they have just read in order to comprehend the meaning of the lines containing the dimeter. For example when the reader reads “ Some say in ice” they go back to the first line of the poem to reread the topic of what some are saying about the end of the world. The rhyme scheme of “Fire and Ice” is ABAABCBCB style. The words “fire” and “ice” are being rhymed with themselves. By using this scheme it means that the poem falls soundly and flows. By using the rhyme scheme Frosts creates a connection between the words. For example “fire” and “desire,” which make it clear that the words are related on a deeper level. As well the rhyming of “fire” and “ice” with themselves made it work to cre...
Frost is far more than the simple agrarian writer some claim him to be. He is deceptively simple at first glance, writing poetry that is easy to understand on an immediate, superficial level. Closer examination of his texts, however, reveal his thoughts on deeply troubling psychological states of living in a modern world. As bombs exploded and bodies piled up in the World Wars, people were forced to consider not only death, but the aspects of human nature that could allow such atrocities to occur. By using natural themes and images to present modernist concerns, Frost creates poetry that both soothes his readers and asks them to consider the true nature of the world and themselves.
Robert Frost is considered by many to be one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century. Frost’s work has been regarded by many as unique. Frost’s poems mainly take place in nature, and it is through nature that he uses sense appealing-vocabulary to immerse the reader into the poem. In the poem, “Hardwood Groves”, Frost uses a Hardwood Tree that is losing its leaves as a symbol of life’s vicissitudes. “Frost recognizes that before things in life are raised up, they must fall down” (Bloom 22).
In Frosts poem two themes are isolation and choices. Isolation because the man is alone and wants to be alone, and the weather gives it alone feels because people don’t go out while it’s snowing alone most of the time. The other them in this poem is choices because the man has to choice wither to go home to the village or watch the snow which his horse disagrees with. But, in the end he choices to go home where it warm and where he can keep all his promise. In Poes poem the two themes are madness and love. Madness because the man in this poem is basically insane, he talks to a bird if the bird is even really there. Also love is a theme because he truly loved his wife and all he wants is to be with her. In both the poems there is a man and the real world theme in Frosts poem it’s snowing which kind of entices the man to stay and watch but he stays he could die from the cold. In Poes poem its night time and windy and there are spirits outside and they come in as the form of the raven.
par. 1). With clever poetic purpose, Frost‘s poems meld the ebb and flow of nature to convey
The only strong comparison between the poets, in terms of structure and technique, is that the meaning of their poems run much deeper then the specific words on a page. Even this can come as a contrast when looking at these three poems. “Home Burial,” by Frost is a fairly straightforward poem, written in dialogue, with the writer working as the narrator. The poem is about a married couple dealing wi...
Robert Frost's “Birches” is written in blank verse and in mostly consistent iambic pentameter. The dependable rhythm of this poem can be likened to the reliability and purity of a child. This poem is not broken into stanzas, rather it is compact with his message and vivid images. This may be due to the fact that—in addition to Frost's desire for this poem to be read conversationally—the compact nature of this poem is attempting to explain the speaker's thoughts and observations in as little space as possible. “The Road Not Taken” is a poetic quintain consisting of four stanzas with five lines in each stanza. Each quintain's rhyme is a dependable ABAAB scheme. The rhyme scheme is comparable to the petrarchan sonnet and the rhyming couplets appear to provoke a sense of focused reflection. The rhythm of this poem is slightly more challenging. It is written in an iambic tetrame...
Both poems by Frost and Dickinson use setting to define the theme of isolation. Since both poems present
In “Birches”, Robert Frost uses imagery and analogies as a way of conveying his message. Frost’s use of imagery and analogies are used in the themes of nature, analogies, and imagination. Frost uses imagery throughout the poem to create a vivid image of how he imagines the Birches to be. His use of comparisons enables the reader to view the Birches in numerous perspectives. His use of imagery and metaphors are appealing because they are pragmatic, and create a clear image for the reader.
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.
In this poem he now talks about water. The reader can see how powerful the water is when it eats away at the cliff. The shore was lucky by being backed by the cliff. Once again Frost is discussing water which goes back to stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening by stating the water because there is water in this poem with snow Frost keeps bringing up water and snow.
These aspects help the speaker escape from reality. The snow symbolizes the purity and peacefulness the speaker feels while stopping in the woods. (4) The darkness can symbolize many different things. Some times darkness would be considered evil or dangerous, but I do not think this is the case in this poem. I believe the darkness symbolizes the undisturbed atmosphere of the woods.
Frost’s nature poetry interconnects the world of the natural and the world of human beings – Both key elements of his motivation in writing poetry. The harsh reality of nature and the thoughtless expectations in the minds of man scarcely cohere to one another. Frost usually starts with an observation in nature, contemplates it and then connects it to some psychological concern (quoted in Thompson). According to Thompson, “His poetic impulse starts with some psychological concern and finds its way to a material embodiment which usually includes a natural scene” (quoted in Thompson).
Frost uses nature as a reflection of human experiences; just like humanity it can have seasons and life cycles. He uses different scenes to depict a certain mood for readers to step into the psychological happening of a man. The idea of how seasons change, Frost compares it through the life cycles that humans encounter. Contrary to popular opinion, I believe that nature is not Frost’s central theme in his poetry; it is about the relationship that man has with nature in which can be seen from “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”, “The Road Not Taken”, and “An Old Man’s Winter Night.”
...uses his poetry to celebrate, compare, and contrast the beauty of nature and rural living. Throughout Frost’s poetry he draws upon the beauty of nature to build up vast amounts of scenery. To contrast from nature, Frost also uses the integration of industrialized rural life. Frost uses nature to build the beauty in his poetry, but also uses it to say things that cannot be said with words alone. Heller once wisely spoke: “Maybe freedom really is nothing left to lose. You had it once in childhood, when it was okay to climb a tree, to paint a crazy picture and wipe out on your bike, to get hurt. The spirit of risk gradually takes its leave. It follows the wild cries of joy and pain down the wind, through the hedgerow, growing ever fainter. What was that sound? A dog barking far off? That was our life calling to us, the one that was vigorous and undefended and curious.”