Emotions In Robert Frost Poetry

Humans are capable of many emotions, each of them brought out for different reasons. Many emotions are brought out through the poetry of Robert Frost, a highly acknowledged American poet born in 1874 in California. Frost, who graduated from Lawrence High School not only as a valedictorian but a class poet as well (Dickstein, Career, Life, and Influence), uses his talented writing to dive into each reader’s mind. Through symbolism, imagery, and tone, Robert Frost focuses on the strong emotions that people might have.

In some of Frost’s poems, such as The Road Not Taken, symbolism is used to pull out human emotions relating to situations in our lives. Frost had unique, signature symbols, such as one traveling alone in many poems, and also the paths that are faced and the choices that are made in life. In lines 2-5 of the poem, Frost covers how decisions are weighed and from there the better decision is made: “And sorry I could not travel both and be one traveler, long I stood and looked down one as far as I could to where it bent in the undergrowth.” The lonesome traveler is figuratively looking down the paths of his life and trying to decide which to take. However, the poem states that neither of the roads is truly less traveled in lines 9 and 10: “Though as for that, the passing there had worn them really about the same (Frost)…” The traveler, speaking figuratively, has the option of taking one of two paths in life, both with the same wear and tear, same crises, and unknown outcomes, showing what is faced in life. To support the idea that there is no less traveled road, the title comes in handy: “The Road Not Taken.”

Imagery is shown in certain poems to bring out the senses. An example of one of these poems is After Apple Picki...

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...g the reader to continue with reading the work and not feel any emotions, which some authors do. Through the literary elements given, in many poems Frost compares the narrator’s life to one’s everyday life or situations faced throughout life, just as in The Road Not Taken.

Frost is a talented, well-acknowledged writer who has the power to dive into the minds of his readers and play with their emotions in ways that not many writers have the power to do. He uses mainly symbolism, imagery, and tone in order to bring out emotions. It is no wonder that he was the class poet of his high school, as he has done nothing but improve since then, and even then he obviously had the power to sway the student body and faculty, giving him the title of the class poet. Frost’s writing is very strong, and any writer should consider themselves lucky to have talent at Frost’s level.