Discuss Robert Frost as a Poet.

What are the prominent features of Frost’s poetry?

Give an estimate of Frost as a poet.

Ans.

Frost is regarded as one of the great American poet whose poetry has earned wide fame and popularity. Below are given some of the salient features of Frost’s poetry in the light of the critical views of various prominent critics.

A Most Distinguished American Poet

Robert Frost is the most distinguished American poet of the twentieth century. An individualist in an age of conformity, an optimist in an age of cynicism, a rural philosopher in an age of urban sophistication, Frost none the less gradually won celebrity and recognition.

Views and Manner of Frost

Frost is a poet who holds the following views. He believes that impulse is trustworthy and reason contemptible, that formative decisions should be made casually and passively, that the individual should retreat from co-operative action with his kind, should retreat not to engage in intellectual activity but in order to protect himself from the contamination of outside influence, that affairs manage themselves for the best if left alone, that ideas of good and evil need not to be taken very seriously. These views are sure to be a hinderance to self-development, and they effectually cut Frost off from any really profound understanding of human experience, whether political, moral, metaphysical or religious… The result is nearly all the poems is a measure of carelessness in the style. sometimes smail and sometimes great, but usually evident; the conversational manner with naturally suit a poet who takes all experience so casually, and it is only natural that the conversational manner should often became very conversational indeed.

Frost’s Pastoralism

His (Frost’s) poetry is in great tradition of pastoral poetry from Theocritus to Wordsworth, though his pastoralism is never, like Virgil’s or Milton’s decorative or political. He is a learned poet but, as in Houseman’s poetry, his learning is muted to an echoic beauty. He was not the partisan of his plowman, moors, hired man, gatherers of huckle berries and tree gum, for all his sympathy with them and his gift of psychological penetration into their lives. He looked on them with a detachment which was ironic or truthful.

Frost as a Poet of Nature

There is a controversy over the issue whether Frost is a poet of Nature or not. Some critics are of the opinion that Frost is not a poet of Nature; because there is not a single poem of Frost which may be called a purely nature poem. Man is the main theme or subject matter of his poetry and nature is always shown in the background. Besides, he does not believe in Wordsworth’s theory that there pervades the same spirit in man and different objects of Nature. He finds qualities of animals in man but not the qualities and features of man in animals and vegetation. In his poetry Nature and man are two quite different things and there is no communion between the two. Frost presents nature red in tooth and claw. It is hostile to man and thwarts man’s hopes and inspiration. Man has to work hard to overcome the difficulties that Nature creates in the path of man. Thus Frost’s treatment of Nature is quite different from those of Wordsworth’s and other Romantic poets. However, in his poems, he has given a fine description of the rural landscape and wild life.

Freshness of Thought in Frost

It is possible to write in the modern idiom and yet to show little newness or originality in one’s response to the contemporary world. And even among unquestionably fine modern poets one often finds the style a good deal more contemporary rather than the thought. Slevens’ concept of imagination is apparently derived from Coleridge and Williams he pictures modern conditions very realistically… If these poets are to be admired for their freshness of manner; then Frost deserves to be admired for his freshness of thought.

Modernity in Frost

Frost, whom many describe as America’s first poet of the century was less obviously a product of the modern movement than the others…Though his meters are varied, they are at first glance quite orthodox. He uses the speech of New England, but not as a Vernacular intended to jolt the reader…He is the countryman, with the countryman’s apparent conservatism; … yet Frost’s tone was modern: he could not be confused with Whittier to name an other poet of rural New England. He struck no attitudes; he made it clear that he was determined not to be poetical.”

Limitations of Frost as a Poet

Frost’s poetry is not free from limitations. First his range is quite narrow. He writes about his favourite region-New England, and his poems contain only the description of rural life of New England. He takes no interest in depicting the urban life. Secondly not all his poems are of equal merit. Poems written in his old age. are not of high standard. They are marked by mediocrity and falling-off in his poetic vision. Thirdly, there is no sign of social, political and economic issues of his time. This shows his aloofness from the reality of contemporary life and presents him in the spectacle of an escapist. Fourthly, he cannot present a deep psychological study of his characters. Fifthly, the philosophy he presents in his poems is not deep or original. Lastly, he has legged behind in matters of experimentation or innovation in the field of poetic technique, and has chief restored to the traditional manner and form of poetry. Modernity in his poetry only in a limited sense.

Conclusion

Despite his flaws and limitations, Frost is regarded as a prominent American poet. His simplicity, sincerity, humanity, emotional intensity and technical virtuosity go to make him a highly appealing poet of our times.