Sunjin Kang 9/30/11 Professor Tandon WR100 1.
How do you understand the term motivation in the context of an academic argument? An active interest to entertain scholastic ideas for the continued stimulation of intellectual minds. 2. In your own words what is your understanding of the terms progression and trajectory? Progression is the continuation of a previous static scholarship and trajectory is the new perspective the new idea illustrates. 3. What is close reading or textual analysis? What is its purpose in an argument? Reading in between the lines, to obtain greater insight on the many possible meanings behind literature. It is essential to have a greater understanding of the themes and the literary devices utilized to develop that theme in order to have an in-depth argument about the purpose of the piece and aim of the author 4. If a conclusion is not merely a summary of an essay, what can or should it accomplish? It should end as if its a cliff hangar, leaving your scholarship to be picked up and progressed by another intellect in an alternative trajectory. Please cut, paste, and sign the following pledge at the end of your cover letter. Do not sign it unless you genuinely performed the tasks below: "To the best of my ability I have edited my paper for grammar, mechanics, punctuation, and MLA citation. I have printed a copy and proofread it aloud twice prior to turning in this version." Signed: Format/Due Date: This cover letter is due with your essay's final version. The essay will be considered late without this cover letter (see syllabus late policies). In terms of formatting, follow "essay format" guidelines from our syllabus. Be sure to upload a copy of your cover
letter and your essay's final version as a single document to our Course Dropbox ([your last name,] Paper 1).
Sunjin Kang WR 100: Robert Frost Professor Tandon Word Count: 1322 Romanticism of Nature in Robert Frost
Robert Frost had many critics who considered him skeptical of nature, stoic in morals and doubtful of human perceptionviewing the world as indifferent and hostile. They argued that his poems were a defense against nature, for self-relief and protection. They may have come to this verdict through their evaluation of Frosts tragic personal life, however their numerous claims of Frosts poems being completely pessimistic and dejected are false. In many of his poems, Frost illustrates a deep and appreciation of the simple aspects along with all its beauty in nature and romanticizes it to the fullest. Notably in the poems, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Ending, and Putting in the Seed, the speaker is often entrancedto the point of immobilization when faced by the many different elements of nature. In Frosts poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, he portrayed a very unique and wonderful snowy night. The first four lines of the poem gives a general setting around the speaker: Whose woodshis house is in the village, thoughnot see me stopping here
woods fill up with snow. (Frost 1-4) the speaker is in a state of solitude and peaceful quietness under the veil of gentle snow. The diction in, his housevillage, though (2) implicitly signify the great distance of himself from the nearest form of civilization. However, it does not imply loneliness or sadness, as evident in the next stanza: My little horse must think it queerBetween the woods and frozen lakedarkest evening of the year. (5, 7-8) Although the imagery is of a man very isolated and secluded right in the middle of nothing but nature, he is accompanied by his little horse which maintains the speakers reclusion from any ties to society, but it eliminates notions of loneliness with the presence of a familiar which he called little which connotes the horse was a subject of his affection and quite affable to him. (5) The horse was said to, think it queer, queer a word choice that shows the horse was able to recognize the uncommon atmosphere they were in because of the experiences from previous journeys together. (5) Secluded but not alone, there is significant imagery of a vast snowing sky on a pitch-dark nightThe darkest evening of the year. (8)the winter solstice (day with shortest hours of light), where the only thing visible would be the oncoming snow. It is almost as if he is immobilized by the rarity and grace of this time and place and is comfortable with letting himself be consumed by the forces of nature. In the lines 11 and 12, The only other sounds the sweep of easy wind
and downy flake, (11-12) the diction of easy (12) and downy (12) gives a romantic sense of softness and welcoming acceptance of nature. The first line of the last stanza: The woods are lovely, dark, and deep. (13) The speaker clearly reveals his feelings towards the woods alluding to the whole of nature that has encompassed him. (13) He finds it pleasant and friendly, welcoming the deep and dark aspects of nature, notably opposite of the light and knowledge society and civilization are often associated with. (13) Throughout the poem, the rhythm has been consistently A-A-B-A until the last stanza, which changed to a full perfect rhyme. The constant rhythm of the poem accentuates the flow and grace of the speakers mood and gives insight on his feelings towards his situation. When the rhyme suddenly changes in the last stanza, so does the mood:
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. (13-16)
The repetition of the last two lines impacts the mood and the speaker sounds resentful and tired. The promises he must keep allude to the
ties he must inevitably maintain with society. He realizes he must break from his momentary state of bliss to continue the journey back home. One could even go so far as to say that he is sorrowful of the fact that he cannot survive while living in the environment he finds to be so beautiful and romantic. However, there is an antipodal interpretation of the last stanza, describing the situation as the speakers longing for death and an opportunity of suicide. The emphasis by repetition of sleep being translated to the eternal sleep of death, and the promises referring to those that Frost made with his deceased family to live on But this interpretation lacks substantial evidence, as the entirety of the poem has been full of imagery of a gentle snowy night, and not of suicide and death. (15-16) On the contrary, Frosts poem, Putting in the Seed, is an extended metaphor of birth and life. The poem starts off with a farmers wife coming to take her husband for dinner, but is instead mesmerized by the blossoming new seedlings. In the first three lines, You come to fetch meand well see if I can leave, describes the speaker already enraptured by the scene. While, you lose sight of what you came for and become like meSlave to a springtime passion for the earth, (7-9) shows the powerful influence the environment has over the couple. With the use of diction such as soft petals, and white, it connotes a sense of lightheartedness and bliss towards
nature. Just as the title suggests, Putting in the Seed, alludes to the creation of life and birth. Frost relates plants and humans in the line, How Love burns through the Putting in the Seed, relating the passion behind sex between man and woman with the act of planting a seed in the earth. The birth of the new sproutand the newborn babyis illustrated in metaphor at the last four lines, watching for that early birthThe sturdy seedling with arched body comes Shouldering its way and shedding the earth crumbs. (14) At the moment of birth, the seedling with an arched stem witnesses its first rays of light, emerging free from its mothers soil; a baby waits patiently until he is ready to be born, greeting the world in fetal position, and breathing for the first time without the aid of his mother. In this poem, Frost explicitly affirmed his perspectives of nature. The rhyme scheme of A-B-A-B throughout the entire poem creates a serene, smooth mood, while the speakers tone is sincere and loving in representation of the nature he witnesses. The speaker exhibits nothing but appreciation and awe for the beauty of nature and sees the reflections of human qualities such as love and passion within them. The dissention among the literary world over the true meaning behind the ever-ambiguous poems of Robert Frost may never cease. Nevertheless, I believe that Frost truly believed in the beauty nature
had to offer that civilized society could not. There is an over speculation of themes in Frosts poems through the scrutiny of his personal life, however, that is entirely unnecessary as the poems themselves provide substantial information to draw a conclusion about Frosts outlook on nature. There is an overwhelming amount of evidence that Frost did not find the world hostile or indifferent. Every single rhythm, metaphor, imagery, and diction, expertly woven together to carefully craft each of his poems, profoundly illuminate the simplest details of nature in beauteous light, elevating them to the highest regard of fascination, appreciation and awareness. Undeterred by the haunting curse of his family history, Robert Frost was undoubtedly one of the greatest poets of American Romanticism.
Works Cited Frost, Robert. "Putting in the Seed." The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry. By Jahan Ramazani, Richard Ellmann, and Robert O'Clair. New York: W.W. Norton, 2003. Print.
Robert, Frost. "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry. By Jahan Ramazani, Richard Ellmann, and Robert O'Clair. New York: W.W. Norton, 2003. Print.
