help with robert frost bereft

My rweaction was more along the lines that Farmerman describes. I felt as if he was mourning, that the roar was that of sorrowful rage and he was lonely.

Frost once said to an inquirer, that he meant nothing by his poems, but when a poet writes to the world, then his work becomes ours to explicate as we will. (sans plagiarism, that is)

If our colleen's prof/teacher has any comprehension of this, then she should do well.

and weve always called Bob Dylan the creator of the "great mind F*ck" , If youre correct Letty, then Frost was the Daddy.

I still like his lines about a cloudy
day in April from "2 Hobos in mud time"

or howbout

It is right in there
Betwixt and between
the orchard bare
and the orchard green,

When the boughs are right
in a flowery burst
Of pink and white,
that we fear the worst.

For there's not a clime
But at any cost
Will take that time
For a night of frost.

Something there is that doesn't love a wall, farmerman:

Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun,
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
'Stay where you are until our backs are turned!'
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of out-door game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, 'Good fences make good neighbors'.
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
'Why do they make good neighbors? Isn't it
Where there are cows?
But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down.' I could say 'Elves' to him,
But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather
He said it for himself. I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me~
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father's saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, "Good fences make good neighbors."

Mending Walls , 1914, included in North of Boston . Did ya evernotice the many country phrases that have come from Frost and have been adopted in our everyday speech.
Stephen King wrote a really scary short story around good fences make good neighbors.

Ah, he did, did he, farmer? and just what was that scary short story?

Good fiends make good neighbors?

Hmmm, where's farmer and Colleen? A simple "thank you" would be sufficient.

Anyway, I wanted to ask farmer about that Stephen King short story as I watched one part of a mini series by King called Rose Red.

farmerman, you are too modest. I think you nailed it well with your earlier post, especially referring to the poem's title. Frost has another poem, "Acquainted With the Night", that also touches on loneliness after loss. I believe he wrote it after his wife's death.

sorry i have not got back to u guys...i have not been on my computer in a few days... thank u all for your input..i will let u know what my teacher thinks about my paper. he proof read my 1st draft and he didnt agree with the whole satin idea. i thought that was a good observation. im still stuck on thoughts about the leaves hissing and striking. Also, he said that the poem was about the loss of a loved one and that it had nothing to do with death finding him or him dying.

Colleen, I cannot believe that your prof would be such a pedant. It's all a matter of interpretation. Hey, honey. Just psych him out and grovel, and in the mean time, think what you like. I despise that sort of closed mind.

Thank you for returning to tell us, my dear.

I agree with Farmerman and with your prof, Colleen. The poem is not about the poet's own impending death. It is about the dreaded anticipation of losing someone dear. The sensation isn't new, either. Look at the first two lines -- this is a dreaded wind remembered from some previous time. And, towards the end, he bemoans the fact that he is alone. He has lost and is about to lose again a loved one.

Welcome to A2K, Colleen.

Sometimes a cigar is just a smoke.

and sometimes a woman is only a woman.

These pools that,though in forests, still reflect
The total sky almost without defect,
And like the flowere beside them,chill and shiver,Will like the flowers beside them soon be gone,
And yet not out by any brook or river,
But up by roots to bring dark foliage on.

The trees that have it in their pent-up buds
To darken nature and be summers woods-
Let them think twice before they use their powers
To blot out and drink up and sweep away
These flowery waters and these watery flowers
From snow that melted only yesterday.

SPRING POOLS, from West Running Brook 1928

Time for paper # 2! im not too bright when it comes to poerty so i was wondering if anyone had any input on my new topic. it has to be a 4-5 page paper on 2 poems. both are by robert frost.
1. stopping by the woods on a snowy evening
2. desert places
i have to discuss how the situations are similar and how the speakers responses are dramatically different. The main discussion should be on different responses of the poem.



Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.


Desert Places
by: Robert Frost

Snow falling and night falling fast, oh, fast
In a field I looked into going past,
And the ground almost covered smooth in snow,
But a few weeds and stubble showing last.

The woods around it have it--it is theirs.
All animals are smothered in their lairs.
I am too absent-spirited to count;
The loneliness includes me unawares.

And lonely as it is that loneliness
Will be more lonely ere it will be less--
A blanker whiteness of benighted snow
With no expression, nothing to express.

They cannot scare me with their empty spaces
Between stars--on stars where no human race is.
I have it in me so much nearer home
To scare myself with my own desert places.

Time for paper # 2! im not too bright when it comes to poerty so i was wondering if anyone had any input on my new topic. it has to be a 4-5 page paper on 2 poems. both are by robert frost.
1. stopping by the woods on a snowy evening
2. desert places
i have to discuss how the situations are similar and how the speakers responses are dramatically different. The main discussion should be on different responses of the poem.



Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.


Desert Places
by: Robert Frost

Snow falling and night falling fast, oh, fast
In a field I looked into going past,
And the ground almost covered smooth in snow,
But a few weeds and stubble showing last.

The woods around it have it--it is theirs.
All animals are smothered in their lairs.
I am too absent-spirited to count;
The loneliness includes me unawares.

And lonely as it is that loneliness
Will be more lonely ere it will be less--
A blanker whiteness of benighted snow
With no expression, nothing to express.

They cannot scare me with their empty spaces
Between stars--on stars where no human race is.
I have it in me so much nearer home
To scare myself with my own desert places.

oops didnt mean to send that twice

Stopping by the woods
The first few lines are honestly exactly what they mean.
He is obviously coming back toward his village/town after a long trip.
He does not want to press on any further because of either he is tired or because it is snowing a bit too much or for some type of normal reason.

When he talks about his horse, his horse obviously knows it is very cold out and wants to rest, but the horse realizes that they are not inside, and is wondering why they are stopping outside. Between the woods and frozen lake. That could be very literal or symbolic. It could be representative of between a rock and a hard place. Neither of the two places are really acceptible places to sleep or take a break or whatever it is he is stopping for. And the "darkest evening of the year" could be pertaining to a certain day of the year.. the winter solstice? or autumn equinox? whichever of those two that it is it may literally be referring to, or he could be dreading going back into town for some unknown reason. The "darkest" evening could be reffering to his life or a bad event that has happened recently, or is about to happen.

The horse is still concerned about stopping because of the condition of the weather, hence him giving his harness bells a shake, as though actually asking the question why are they stopping? And then he can only hear the sound of the wilderness and snowfall.

The woods are lovely dark and deep...
Many view this poem as dark, and this reffers to death, or even abandonment. That he might have a family or financial troubles that he could run away from by going into the woods, or away from everything. He mentions that he has promises to keep meaning even though it would be easier to run away, he cannot because he has commitments to attend do. Possibly a wife and children. The interpretation about death could be saying that he is an old man and he is ready to die, but he has to settle his affairs (promises to keep) before he "sleeps" (dies).

Im not very familiar with the other poem but i hope this helps