The Dark Side of Humanity Exposed in Robert Frosts Poetry Essay

The Dark Side of Humanity Exposed in Robert Frost's Poetry Robert Frost is often referred to as a poet of nature. Words and phrases such as fire and ice, flowers in bloom, apple orchards and rolling hills, are all important elements of Frost's work. These ‘benign' objects provide an alternative way to look at the world and are often used as metaphors to describe a darker view of nature and humans. In Frost's poetry, the depth is as important as the surface. The darker aspects of Frost's poetry are often portrayed through the use of symbolism, vivid imagery, and selective word choice. Frost's poems appear to be simple on the surface, yet upon further scrutiny the poems reveal themselves as elusive. Frost utilizes ordinary objects to create a deeper meaning. For example, the poem "Mending Wall", appears to be about the differences between two neighbors and their ideas on rebuilding a wall. On the other hand, the wall may be viewed, in a more general sense, as a symbol to represent all the antagonistic or mistrustful barriers that divide man from man. "The gaps I mean / No one has seen them made or heard them made / But at spring mending-time we find them there" (lines 9-11), illustrates the point that people become separated without even realizing it because we become so caught up in what is happening in our own lives. The darkness, held within the afore mentioned quotation, is the feeling of sadness. The fact that we do not take notice of one another creates a place that becomes more and more divided by differences. Likewise, the poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay" seems to represent the change of seasons. But further analysis reveals that the speaker is also paralleling the cycles of life with the change in seasons. "So dawn... ... light to the darker side of humanity in an extremely subtle way. Dark complexities are not obvious on the surface, however they are hidden throughout his poems in the form of symbols, imagery, and careful word choice. Frost's poetry acts as a metaphor for life. Upon first glance things look nice and orderly, but once the surface has been scratched the darker side becomes more apparent. Works Cited: Frost, Robert. "Mending Wall." The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Julia Reidhead. 5th ed. 2 vols. New York: Norton, 1998. 1119. Frost, Robert. "Nothing Gold Can Stay." The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Julia Reidhead. 5th ed. 2 vols. New York: Norton, 1998. 1132. Frost, Robert. "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Julia Reidhead. 5th ed. 2 vols. New York: Norton, 1998. 1133.