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Name                :-   Bambha Kajal A

Sem                  :-   3

Roll no              :-   17

Year                  :-   2017-2019

Paper no           :-     The American Literature

Enrollment no  :-  2069108420180002

Email id           :-   kajalbambha16@gmail.com

Submitted to    :-   Smt.S.B Gardi Department of  English, MKBU  

Topic: -       Robert Frost’s use of Symbols in his poems.

v Introduction:-

                   Robert Frost was an American poet. His work was initial published in England before it was published in America. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquy .Frost frequently wrote about settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to examine complex social and philosophical themes.

Although frost’s images and voice often seem familiar and old and his observation have an edge of skepticism and irony his poetry of his poetry helped provide a link between the American poetry of the 19^th century and that of the 20^th century.

He was elected to the membership of the national institute of arts in 1916 to membership in the American academy in 1930. Fore time he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. Frost second collection, north of Boston, was published in 1914 and also won praise in England.  While l giving on farms in Vermont and New Hampshire and teaching literature at Amherst College of  the University of Michigan, Harvard University and Dartmouth College.

Frost’s poetry reflects life in rural New England and the language. He used was the uncomplicated speech that region. He evokes a wide range of emotions and his poems often shift dramatically from humorous tones to tragic ones in 1916.

v Symbolism :-

                      In the Nineteenth-century America, a symbolism was a prominent element in the novels of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville, the prose of Emerson and Thoreau, and the poetic theory and practice of Poe. The writers derived this mode in large part from the native puritan tradition of divine topology. Symbolist movement began with specifically a group of the French writes beginning with Charles Baudelaire, Paul Nerlaine,  Stephane Mallarme and Paul Valery.

v Importance of symbols:-

                            In addition to the meanings, Symbols evoke the eyes of our mind. Symbols are emotionally rich. Symbols make the language rich and expressive. Inexpressible concepts can be expressed through symbols. Symbols can be used to express mystery There are two symbol use of Robert frost poetry.

1)   Regions used as Symbols

2)   Symbol from Nature:

v Symbol:-

                Symbolism transforms the phenomenon into idea, the idea into an image, and in such a way the idea remains always infinitely active an unapproachable in the image and even if expressed in all language, still would remain in expressible. The term Symbol is applied only to a word or phrase that signifies an objects or event which in its turn signifies something, or suggests a range of reference, beyond it. Some symbol are conventional or  Public thus The Cross  ‘The Red, White, and Blue’ and ‘The Good Shepherd are terms that refer to symbolic objects.

v Types of Symbolism in literature:

                              Robert Forts used of the different symbolism to represent a particular concept. Throughout various forms of literature, the following symbols in his poetry.

1)   Symbolism in Design

                           This poem is in the form of sonnet octave and sextet about comparison, discussion and questioning he natural process .Here Frost suggest that how design of God works. God is designer of nature and all natural process happening around us. There is also good and evil natural forces existence in the world. It is designed by God. The poem starts with a white - spider preying a white moth on a heal - all. The flower holds the moth. But it cannot able to stop this tragic incident. It was dark, horrible force of nature.

White - spider, white - flower and white - moth this symbol of whiteness suggests evil and darkness. There is no purity in it. White symbol of innocent and purity become symbol of dark activity. Moth have to struggle against evil force ' spider This  process indicates natural force controls one another's existence. This is irony on design or God's design.

(2) Symbolism in Fire and Ice

Symbolism is the key to this poem. Frost very explicitly makes symbols as given below.

Fire: Warmth, Emotions, Desire

Ice: Coldness, Dryness, Hatred

In both poems we can say same sign of fire and ice, symbolism of same thing but with different meaning. Fire and ice have same feeling of burning and capacity of disaster. 

The poem itself does not require a large amount of explanation as to meaning of words and  phrases, due to Frost’s concentration on making the poem readable and understandable by all. Despite the simplicity of the language use, the poem carries with it very deep thematic ideas. Essentially, Frost is providing commentary upon two of the darkest traits of humanity: the capacity to hate, and the capacity to be consumed by lust.

            In giving desire the foremost position in regards to the destruction of the world, Frost is providing a powerful statement on the subject of greed and jealousy, saying that above all else, even hatred, this is the trait of humanity that is most likely to lead to its demise.

               In poem of Spenser, poet compares his love with he is like  fire  and his love is like ice, that coldness of his love will melted him, with  power of love. In poem of Robert Frost sign use as compared with  desire and hate, both have capacity of ending the world and  dangerous for world .so we can say different meaning of same sign in both poems.

(3) Symbolism in “Stopping By woods on a snowy Evening:-

                                     

          Stopping By woods on a snowy Evening’ is one of the moving lyric of Frost. William o’ Conner says-Like Milten’s sonnet “on his Blindness and Arnold’s Dover Beach, seems to have established itself permanently in anthologies Stopping by woods has rich texture and admits some interpretation. If we see its surface meaning, it seems to us as if a simple take that depicts the poet pause the woods. The poet is getting lost in the fascinating snowfall but soon remembers that his journey and many miles to go.

Frost technique of communication is essentially symbolic. Frost conveys his message through rich symbols. He states his themes with the help of symbols.

(4)The Gift Outright:-

The Gift Outright” serves as history, narrative, metaphor, and political statement. Its subject matter the origins and future of the United States of America makes it a logical choice for his presentation at President Kennedy’s inauguration. It serves as both a reminder of the past and a call to action for the future.

Frost begins with no proper nouns to orient readers to his subject matter; he draws them in by his use of pronouns the corporate and individual meanings of we and the land as she. He refers to the “hundred years” preceding the designation as her people. The British colonized what became the United States of America, and the  we  of  the poem in turn colonized the her, the land itself, by inhabiting it without the responsibilities of possession.

(5)Mending wall

                             He does not believe that a wall should exist simply for the sake of existing. Moreover, he cannot help but notice that the natural world seems to dislike the wall as much as he does: mysterious gaps appear, boulders fall for no reason. The neighbor, on the other hand, asserts that the wall is crucial to maintaining their relationship, asserting, “Good fences make good neighbors.”

The central situation of the poem has given scope to a social or symbolic interpretation and cultural problems have been analyzed as well. Robert Frost tries to search human tendency and the social aspects. He overtly observed the human psychology. Frost tries to find out the factual situation of the human tendency in critical moment, so that the poet wants to suggest that the man has become a wayward. He search himself in the whimsical world .He reveals the realistic picture of the society. He described the social confrontation before the readers and also expressed his idea and suggestion through the lyrics. He shows the right path and way of life where man is thoroughly invisible in day to day life. Frost suggests that human being should get an internal relief in chaotic situation. It is a human exploration by Frost.

.

(6)Home Burial

                  "Home Burial" is one of Robert Frost's longest poems, and it can also be considered one of his most emotionally disturbing ones. "Home Burial," published in 1914, tells the story of a married couple fighting after their baby has died.

Frost describes two terrible events the death of a child and the destruction of a marriage. The death of the child is tragic, but inability of the husband and wife to communicate with each other and express their grief about the loss is what ultimately destroys the marriage. Frost highlights this inability to communicate by writing the poem in free verse dialogue; each character speaks clearly to the reader, but neither is able to understand the other.

The poem is a study of misinterpretation.  The man reacts to the death of his child by throwing himself into his work, figuratively, and by focusing on a fence.  She sees him as throwing dirt from the child's grave as if he were doing anything else, as if he were performing any usual chore.  He comments on the fence deteriorating, and she fails to see that to him, the fence may represent the child, or at least, that he is attempting to ignore his grief by focusing on something else. Frost in "Home Burial" demonstrates his ability to present a vignette featuring common people using the rigid form of iambic rhythm and meter, and to make even the dialogue appear and sound natural. 

v Conclusion:-

Frost’s poems are symbolically mysterious. They are suggestive and indirect. Readers have to take trouble to comprehend. Frost’s symbolic poem fully one needs to do homework. One should have they knowledge of the solid background of Frost poems. Then and then one could understand the hidden meaning of his poems. which are very difficult to understand yet after several reading of these poems one can grasp the meaning.

s Frost’s poem reflects deep appreciation of natural world. So we can easily follow deeper meaning without any objection. Frost recognized the boundaries of man and nature. His poetry is an evidence of man’s relation with nature.

Work cited :-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Frost

https://www.bartleby.com/essay/Symbols-and-Symbolism-in-the-Poems-of-F3ZKARZTJ