The Gift Outright

Robert Frost was a great lover of his country, especially the part of the country known as
New England. He wrote a number of poems dealing with American life and culture, and
with the beliefs, manners, and customs of the American people. The American ideals of
democracy, liberty, and fraternity find a poignant expression in several of his poems. His
poem, ‘The Gift Outright, reveals his patriotic fervour and presents the history of his
country since the days of colonialism. It was recited at a gathering of the Phi, Beta Kappa
Society at the William and Mary College, on the 5th of December, 1941, and was
published in Frost’s volume A Witness Tree in 1942. It was later recited before a
distinguished audience on the occasion of the Inauguration ceremony of President
Kennedy on January 20, 1962. It helped Frost established his reputation as a truly
national poet.

‘The Gift Outright, a short poem of 16 lines, the history of colonization in America, and
the growth of love and devotion that the settlers came to shower on this land. It is one
of the best patriotic poems ever written about America and the American people. Frost
himself held it in high esteem, and once remarked about it: “It’s the whole story. It’s all
my politics… my national history.” The poem has a political tinge, but it is chiefly a piece
of poetry and not that of propaganda. What makes it appealing to us is not its political
or historical content, but its presentation of the poet’s patriotic zeal with an artistic finish
and depth of feeling. The poem may be said to project the national feelings of the
American people in an emotionally touching manner.

Themes
The poem, ‘The Gift Outright’, is a patriotic poem, and it deals with the national
sentiments and pride of Americans. It presents briefly the history of colonization in
America by English and European settlers. It tells how these settlers made this land their
own by dint of their love of, and devotion to it. The sense of people’s oneness with the
country of their adoption finds a fine expression in the poem. This history of America
and its people may be said to form, in the form of a capsule summary, the theme of the
poem. The settlers at first felt and behaved as aliens or outsiders, and so they could not
truly possess or own the country.
They became its real possessors after making a total surrender to it. The national
sentiments of Americans, and their sense of their European ancestry, are both treated
nicely in this poem. ‘The Gift Outright’ can be better described as a poetic definition of
an American state of mind, a compact psychological essay on colonization. The theme of
the poem comprises the historical and political background of America, and the national
pride its people feel in their adopted land.

Analysis of The Gift Outright

The land (America) was in existence before the British Settlers came here. For about a
hundred years, it was occupied by the British and European people who treated it as
their colony and themselves as colonizers, and not the people of this country. England
was still regarded as their fatherland, and they did not have any emotional attachment
with America.

American cities like Massachusetts and Virginia existed before the British came to this
country. These cities now came to belong to them, but they continued to own their
allegiance to England, and lived in America as it possesses or colonizers, and not as its
people having a sense of belonging to it. They possessed the land, but the land did not
evoke in them any love or patriotic feelings for it. The land was in their possessions, but
they did not really belong to it, because of their sense of alienation from it. Their hearts
remained unpossessed by a love for, or devotion to, this country.

The colonial settlers were made weak because of their sense of alienation from America.
They were withholding or alienation themselves from the land they had come to live in.
When they realized that the source of their weakness lay in this sense of alienation, their
pride and weakness. They began to love it as their own country and developed a deep
emotional attachment with it.

The act of surrender to the country of their adoption did not impoverish the British
settlers. They made a gift of themselves to the nation and were enriched by this act of
self-sacrifice. They fought many wars for the country as a mark of signing the deed of
making the gift. They risked and sacrificed their lives for the sake of the country.

With a deep-rooted love for the country, the settlers moved westward to find new,
undiscovered areas of the land that were marked by naturalness and simplicity. The
country also moved westward to find its place as a great nation in the western
hemisphere. The people who came to America, found it to be a mysterious land
endowed with natural grace and unaffected simplicity. They are likely to find it so in the
future as well. Their vision of their country will remain unchanged.

Critical Appreciation
The poem, ‘The Gift Outright’, marks an outstanding achievement by Robert Frost in the
field of patriotic poetry. It is one of the most remarkably patriotic poems about America
and the American people and abounds in national sentiments and a sense of pride in
this country. It contains a history of America since colonial times in an extremely
condensed form. In a very short space of sixteen lines, it tells about the change
in attitude that occurred among the British settlers in America towards this country of
their adoption.

At first, they treated it as a colony established by them, and themselves as to its alien
possessors or colonizers. But this attitude was responsible for their weakness as a
people. They possessed the country, but they did not have a feeling of oneness or
identity with it. The sense of alienation deprived them of the strength that comes from
pride in, and devotion to, one’s country.

The British settlers continued, for a long time, to regard England as their fatherland and
America only as a colony where they had settled for material gains. Gradually, however,
they realized that they ought to treat this country (America) as their own country and
themselves as to its own people, and they should be willing to sacrifice themselves for its
freedom and well-being. They then found salvation in surrender and made a gift outright
of themselves to this country, and developed a sense of pride in belonging to it, and in
being its people, not outsiders or colonizers. They developed a sense of oneness with
the country.

The poem, in a way, is a piece of national history, but the poetic element in it remains
unsuppressed by the narration of the history. Mind it here that Frost was making a
poem and not a National Monument when he wrote it. Although he has called it a
narrative and a history of the limited states in sixteen lines, ‘The Gift Outright’ can be
better described as a poetic definition of an American state of mind, as has already been
discussed.

This is a compact psychological essay on colonialism. Besides, there is a touch of political

thinking in the poem; but that is only casual, and does not make the poem a piece of
political propaganda. The poem is chiefly a specimen of poetic art and not a fragment of
political or historical narrative.

This history of the land since colonial times has been compressed into sixteen lines, and
the poem concludes with the expression of a sense of national pride and devotion of the
development of a sense of oneness with the country, as against the existing sense of
alienation and separation from it. In all, it can be said that the poem, ‘The Gift Outright’,
contains a nice blend of deep thought and admirable poetic art. The patriotic feelings of
the American people find an echo in the poet’s voice. In the form of this poem, Frost has
offered a ‘gift outright’ to the reader of his poetry.

2) The Gift Outright is a poem in which frost expresses his feelings for his
motherland, America. He speaks here of the intimate relationship between men and
their native lands. It is a great patriotic poem. What the great leaders and statesmen
visualized in the dictum 'Government of the people, by the people, for the people'
must be realized by the citizens by means of strenuous active endeavour. The land
and the people grow towards a chosen goal.

The poem deals with the problem of how a nation achieves true nationhood.
Frost traces a concise history of America and reveals the contradictions in the
American mind through the centuries of the establishment and growth of the
nation. The Gift Outright is better described as a poetic definition of an American
state of mind, a compact psychological essay on colonialism", says Brower. Frost
uses a religious metaphor in the poem - 'salvation in surrender'. The phrase; 'such
as she would become', clearly suggests the process of growth present in any living
thing or society. It is not the reaching of a fixed goal, but a growth towards chosen
goals.

Conclusion:
This poem is rightly adjudged one of the best and most popular poems
of Robert Frost. It will stand the test of time and shine as a star, bright and
peerless.