Ah, Frost. I thought I’d change it up a bit and write about a poet who’s a little less contemporary. Admittedly, I didn’t try that hard, but hey.
Robert Frost. The Robert Frost. We all know “The Road Not Taken.” I believe that’s a requirement for every high school English class. Everyone reads Frost’s poem at least once. (You know that one, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,/ And sorry I could not travel both…”) Besides, I’m sure it’s popped up in books, movies, and I’m almost positive it was in a commercial (but don’t quote me on that).
Since we all know that one, let’s look at some of Frost’s other works. If you’d like to read any of the poems I discuss here, head on over to www.poets.org and look up our Frosty friend.
Robert Frost was called the “American Bard,” and for good reason. The man had 14 published poetry books, which in and of itself is a mighty feat. Not only that, but he was, and still is, one of the most popular and famous of American poets.
Since Frost is not a contemporary poet, rhyme plays much more heavily in his work than in, say Nikki Giovanni or Li-Young Lee. Frost is considered a modern poet. However, Frost avoided a lot of the movements and fashions of modern poets and poetry.
His poem, “Design,” for example, is a sonnet. Sonnets consist of 14 lines, with a very specific rhyme scheme, although the rhyme pattern varies greatly. Now the most famous rhyme scheme is Shakespeare’s “a-b-a-b, c-d-c-d, e-f-e-f, g-g.” The last two lines of this particular sonnet are known as a couplet. Frost, however, is not using the Shakespearean sonnet format in this poem.
Frost’s uses the pattern “a-b-b-a-a-b-b-a, a-c-a-a-c-c” for “Design.”
Ok that might sound confusing, but it’s super easy. I promise. The “a” of “Design” is the “-ite” sound. For example, Frost uses white, blight, right, kite, height, and night.
“B” is the “-oth” sound, such as moth, cloth, broth, and froth.
“C” is the “-all” sound found in heal-all, appall, and small.
Way back when, poetry was considered a very difficult form of writing (I’m sure many still consider it an absurdly difficult way of saying something). Poems were required to fit into specific formats, such as the sonnet or villanelle. They were even expected to have a certain amount of syllables! (Haiku anyone?)
The sonnet, for example, requires 10 syllables per line, and Frost certainly did not deviate from the form. Take the first line of his poem, for example:
|
“I |
found |
a |
dimp |
-led |
spi |
-der, |
fat |
and |
white,” |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
Now, why on earth does this matter?
Let’s take a look at the words of the poem now, shall we? The second stanza explains it all.
What had that flower to do with being white,
The wayside blue and innocent heal-all?
What brought the kindred spider to that height,
Then steered the white moth thither in the night?
What but design of darkness to appall? —
If design govern in a thing so small.
So, in other words, Frost is asking about Fate and destiny. Is it possible that someone or something could have decided the fate of the spider and moth, two creatures so small as to seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things? It seems like a waste of divine power.
And what about the format of this poem? Does it really matter that there are 10 syllables, or that it has a specific rhyme to it? Who decided that there should be 14 lines in a sonnet?
Frost questions Divine intervention, Destiny, and Fate in a poem with such strict rules that he refuses to break. It’s a preformatted poem, with important aspects of it already planned out. The only new parts to this poem are the words and the meaning derived from them. Why did a white spider kill a moth on a white heal-all? Why did Frost choose such a strict pattern to this poem? Why did he pick one where the design was already chosen? Remember, even if it’s an unconscious act on the poet’s part, everything about a poem is important. Choosing a specific rhyme scheme, a word, an outline, all of it matters to the subject. No poem is ever just thrown together. It’s given a very specific design by the poet, a particular architecture chosen for a reason. Poets paint with words. Just like the subtle brushstrokes on a canvas is important for the execution of a painting, a poem’s form creates the curves and shades that force the eyes to move in specific patterns to evoke images and emotions.
All right, how about one more poem? Let’s go with the other poem of Frost’s that is absurdly famous. “Stopping by the Woods One Snowy Evening” is just a fabulous poem, and it’s super easy to read and understand, too! I know you’ve at least heard one line from this poem, even if you slept through the poetry lesson in your English class. I’ve heard this line in songs so often that I honestly get tired of it. The line? “And miles to go before I sleep.” You know you’ve heard it!
This is another poem that has a rhyme scheme. For this one, it’s “a-a-b-a, b-b-c-b, c-c-d-c, d-d-d-d.” Basically, three out of the four lines in each stanza rhyme, while the third line (the only one that doesn’t rhyme with the others) set up the rhyme for the next stanza and ties them together so very well (in my opinion). To me, this gives the poem a nursery rhyme- feel to it. It has a specific pattern to the words. It’s called iambic, with four stressed syllables to a line. I know that sounds intense, but it really isn’t.
DEFINITION!
An iamb is a short syllable followed by a long one. Let’s take an example right out of Frost’s poem, shall we? The stressed syllable will be in bold.
“And miles to go before I sleep.”
Iambic patterns follow the natural way people speak. It’s nothing weird; it’s just poetry!
My absolute favorite aspect of this poem is how peaceful it is. It really is like a lullaby. Can’t you just imagine someone reading it out loud, following the rhyme and rhythm perfectly? It’s like music. Plus, I can hear the reader in my head, and when he gets to that last line, I hear him whisper it, like he has come to a conclusion that weighs heavy on his soul. It comes out like a sigh. Just fabulous.
Robert Frost is definitely an amazing poet, and those four Pulitzer’s were fully deserved! He uses rhyme and rhythm, while combining it with the modernist movement happening around him. In the end, he created some very spectacular pieces of art in his poetry.
Beyond Rhyme or Reason 