ROBERT FROST AND THE CLEARING IN THE WILDERNESS

A Thesis Presented to the Facu'ty of the Department of InglIsh California State College at Hayward

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degre.

Haster of Ar ts

by

David Warren But'.r I August 1966 Or. Morton Rosenbaum. Reader

Or. BIckford Sylvestef. Re.def TABLE OF CONTENTS '8g_

INTRODUCTI ON •• · ......

THE VILDERNISS • ••••.•.• • •• 5

THE CLIAR I NG •• · ...... • 25 ROBERT FROST AND THE CLEAR ING IN THE WI LDERNESS

INTRODUCTI ON

In a famous speech delivered In honor of Robert Frost on his I eighty-fifth birthday, Lionel Trl111ng called hI. a "terrifying poet." There Is some truth In thll Itatement. Frostconfrontl a unlverle which Is a1len and Indifferent, In which un's civilization and his sanity are constantly threatened by • chaotic world In which the Indi- vidual Is Inevitably condemned to a certain degree of Isolation and confusion. Frost's poetry Is terrifying becau.e, like many of his con­ temporarle., he I. unable to comprehend any transcendent order which gives meaning to ..n'. existence. As Trilling', addresl revealed. Frost Is enmeshed In the meta- 2 physical dilemma which Joseph Krutch de,crlbes In The nodern Temper. Trllllng'l speech, reflecting the critical consensus of the late fifties, Indicates that Frost'. place as a modern poet .erlously concerned with the philosophical Issue. whIch dOMinate the twentieth century I. no longer a subject for dispute. As JaMes Cox states, the speech marks t~ surreneter of the critical oppositIon to Frost's poetry and personality

'''A Speech on Robert Frost: A Cui tural Episode," Robert Frost, ed. James H. Cox (Inglewood Cliffs, N. J., 1962), p. 156. 2 "Prefacell (New York, 1956), p. xl. 2

3 which developed during the thirties. Th. plctur. of a stubborn. nine- te.nth -century rural cons.ryatlve presented fn such .sseys a. Malcolm 4 Cowley's ''The Ca.e Against Mr. Frost" was at last generally recognized as a distorted portrait of the artist. However. the nature of Frost·. r.spon.e to the modern dfl..... and consequently hll significance In relation to other well-known con­ teapor.ry American poets, r...ln controversial. CrItics alMOst unanl- moGsly acknowledge Frost', conslder.ble poetic talent, but they offer a wide range of opInions concarnlng the character and the yalue of the philosophical attitude which hlspoells ..scribe.

Among those Icholars who have att.-pted to eveluate Frost', work within the last ten year., Yvor Winter. and 'eorge Hltchle main­ tain that he Is barred fraa greatness by his tendency to treat serious themes In a whimsical. superficial. Intellectually Irrespon.lble man- nero In his essay, "Robert Frost: or. the Spiritual Drifter as Poet.,'1 Winter. make. the following statements: Frost. as far as we have examined him, then, ts a poet who holds the following views: he belleyes that 'mpul •• I. trust­ worthy anet r••sOft contemptible, that forNtlve decisions should be Mde casually and pas.lvely, t ....t tM Indlv'dual should re­ tr.at fra- cooperative action with his kind, .hould retr.at not to engage In Intellectuel actIvity but In order to protect him­ self from the conte-Inatlon of outsld. Influence. that affairs manage them.elvel for the best If left alone, that Id••• of good and evil need not be taken very .erlously. Th.s. ylews ar. sur. to be a hlndr.nce to ••If-development, and they effectually cut Frost off fra- any really profound understanding of human !xperl­ ence, whether polftlcal, MOral, metaphyslca' or r.llgious.

'cox. "'ntroductlon." p. 9. 5As quoted by Cox, p. 75. :5

And Mltchl.'s objections to Frost's work ar. of much the .... order.' 't 'S not difficult to pick out certa'n of Frost's poems which confirm the crlticls.. whIch Winters and .'tchle make. Such a poem. Is

"The Cod.'" in which an attem,t" IRUrdar .e,,,.. Oftty to Illustrate the relatlv.ly trivial I.,son that one cannot t.11 a hlr.d hand to work

Itbetter or fa.ter. u Another exafttpla I. "Awey,,' In whIch Frost ,laY"" fully sldest.ps the major Issue which the poeM r•••••··th. prObl_ of facing "eath··by proposing an vnllk.ly solution:

.•.I May return If dlssathfled WIth what I le.rn From having died.7

But the conclullon that Frost I. a s,lrltual drifter, and there· fore .. minor poet, does not do Justice to hIs work a' • who'e. All Major poets have written lORe slIght poeal. Since FrOit's collectad poeMS fill over seven hundred peg••, even a larga nuntber of faa lurel doel not ,reclude the posil bll Ity that he ha. also produced .. slt.ble body of poetry reflectIng the labor. of • re.ponslble IntellIgence.

Indeed, his belt work hal now convInced the majorIty of c~ntators that he de.erves to be ranked among the gr..t American poet. of ovr century.

In order thet tha objections which WInters and Hltchle rat.e may be satl.factorlly answered, and that Frost' • signIfIcance as a modern poet may be justlv eve)u.ted. 't Is essential. 1 am convinced,

6 UAMorMntary Stay AgaInst Confusion." !;taUn ~.Iues In the PoetrX of .obert Frott; A Study of a 'oet's t!riYlcj1Ons (Durham, )960). 7 1n the Ct.,rlng (New York, 1962), p. )5. 4 to d.flne as clearly as polslble the significant IdeologIcal position Frost has established In the face of the modern dilemma.

Much of the material published In praIse of Frost 15 essentially uncritical, wrItten as an apprecIation of his poetry, lIke Randall 8 Jarrell's "To the Laodleeans", or as a friendly biography, like Sidney 9 Cox's A !wInger of ,Irche.; It 'ortral t of Robert Fr.ss; or.s _ COlt- blnatlon of the ~. lIke Elizabeth Shepley Sergeant's Robert Frost: 10 The Trlel ~ Ixlstence. Only In John F. Lynen', critical enalysls.

The,Pastoral Art of Robert frost. Is the I.~tant ontologIcal problem f1 approached; but as the tItle of hIs book sUfge'ts. LyRen Is more concerned with his att..pt to prove that Fr.'t Incorporate, certaIn techniques derived 'rom pastor.I and symbolist poetry then with a dis­ cussIon of the poet's Ideas. Of course, a thorough study of Frost's significance as _ modern poet Is far outside the scope .f this thesis. Although my discussIon wIll neee,.arily be I'.lted to • few major poInts, • have chosen to ex_lne the symbol ic ._nl09 of the clurlng In the wilderness be­ cause t believe that It off.rs a wey to go dIrectly to the center of

Frost', thought and ~.rn'ty. and becaus., ••• hope to Indicate In subsequent analyses. Frostls awareness of the modern dilemma fs re· vealed In his fl nett P<*fts.

8 9 James CO)(. pp. 83-'04 . New York, 1957. 10 It New York, 1960. New "eyen. 1960. THE WILDERNESS

To determine the meaning of the clearing. it Is necessary to understand the significance of the wlldernes$ which surrounds It. In general. the wildernesl or wasteland which appears In many of Frost's poems. Uke the "pathless woocft' of "Blrches." or the "sameness of the wood" in "The Demlurge's Laugh,lt represents the allen, Indifferent universe that confront. modern .an. The poet. 5ymbollcally lost in the woods. admits his share In the spirituel bewilderment of his con- temporaries. Joseph Krutch s.....riz.s his essay on the "modern tem- per" as follows: The universe revealed by Iclence. especially the science. of biology and psychology. Is one in which the human spirit cannot find a comfortable home. That spirIt breathes freely only In a univ.rse where what phIlosophers call Value Judg­ ments are of supreme Importance. It needs to believe. for Instance that right and wrong are real. that Love is more than a biologIcal function, that the human mInd Is capable of r.ason rather than merely of rationalIzation. and that It has the power to will and to choose Instead of belog compelled merely to react In the fashion predetennlned by Its condition­ Ing. Since science ~as proved that none of these belIef, Is more than a delusion, mankind will be compelled either to sur­ render what we call its humanIty by adjusting to the real world or to live some kInd of tragic exlsllnce in a universe allen to the de.pest needs of Its nature.

Frost concludes the poem. "tn the Long Night," with the state­ ment that "There will come another day." Perhaps

1241The Modern Temper," p. x,. 8ge man's spl rI tual confusIon wi I , be ..eaolved. Unll k. the hard-cor•

• KlltentlaI1ats. who neverperc.lve the possIbIlity that lome trans­ cendent ord.r .xfsts which .'ght l.act to afutur••nllght.....nt. FrOit faces an .pht_olog'cal Issue. Th. world whfch he confronts Is-not n.cessarlly absurd, but Frost returns re,.atedly to the theme that for the pr•••nt It appeara to be absurd ao4 ~st be dealt wIth as such.

'erhaps 'rost's best expre,,'on of ...n'sinabllity to d'scove,.

.. foundation for hUlian values In the eKternal world of nature Is the

PC*I uThe Most of It.tI Th••Ilet.rness In which the po-. It set acqul rei unfversal signIficance wIth the openIng line. The poeM r.ads: He thou.ght he kept the unlver•• alone. For all the volc. In answer he could _Ice Was but the mock'ng echo of hit own 'reat .GIH tr....hldd.n cliff acro.s the lak•• Sa-e mornIng 'raa the boulder-broken beach He woul. cry out on llf., that what It wants 'S not Its own love back In c~ speech, lut counter-love, original relpons•• And nothing ever came of ....t h. crlecf Unless It was the embodIment that crashed In the ellf,f, talul on the oth.r II.e, And then In the far dIstant water spla'hed, lut after a tl.. allowed for Jt to IW'., 'nstud of proyI ng hUlWln when I t nee red And lomeone ella addItIonal to hl_, As a great buck ft powerfully appeared. PushIng the cr.,.e.. water up ahead, And landed pourIng 11k. a weterfall, And 't....bled through the rocks wfth horny tr.ad. And forced the underbrush--and thet was all. I3

'n1. Iftuatlon of the ..n on the beach, alone In the wi ldernels (de­ scrIbed In the first .Ight lIne. 0' this poem) Is Iymbolle of manklnel's

13 . C-el.~e PotMI of Robert frost (New York. ''''9). Unl.ss oth­ erwise Indlc.ata~, ell subsequent quotatIons of Frost's poetry will be taken frOM this work. 7 exIstence In en aile" universe. HIs cr'., In search of f~ounter·love, ortg'nal r.spons...... epr.sent un's need for objective truth. for "a· tural or divine guides to human behavior rether than "copy ...... eh." or lolely subjective yalues. LIke modern "", however, the llste"er he.rs only the ·'mocklng echo" of hit own voice. whatever ,tat__nU 01" prln­ e'ple. he Is able to articulate ,...'n. to all appearance•• pur.'y relative. The rema'nder of the poem (t Ina 9 through 20) Is devoted to the bea.t which Is nature's dumb. fierce mockery of the lonely

II'tener l s de.lre for r.spon... The descrIption of the stag carrIes out the theme of physical vIolence which Is suggested by the landscape, the "boulder-broken beach," and the Hcll ff's talus." The Inhwaenlty of nature and, consequently, the ImplicIt mockery of the romantic view of neture as syalpath.tlc to un, Is emphasized by the fllpressfon of brute power which Frost's portraya' of the st.g cr••t.s. He describes

the .tag as a "great buck" which "powerfully ."""••," ~nd he make. that .Ize and power seem yltal through the use of verbs and verbals such .s "crashed," "sp'ashed,1t Hcrumpled." "pouring," and "forced.u

The.e emph.slze the vlolenc. of the Itag's collisIons with surrounding Metter, the rubble at the base 0' the cliff, the lake. and the und.,.­ brulh.

The structure of the s.cond lection Is noteworthy. After ~

phaslzlng In the first .'ght line. the need 'or response that the solItary fIgure on the beach f.ets, Frost opens the conclUding sectIon by conffr.lng natur.'. failure to supply an answer, "And nothing ever c.... of what he crIed." With the next Itne, "Unle.s It was the embodi­ Ment that cralhed," Frost begins hIs description of the stag'. Journey 8 fr. the oppo"te sid. of the l.ke to the boulder-atrewn beach. He dell beratelv create. an atao.phere o~ lu.pen... He doe. not Ident' fV the .tag 8. such until It .ctualiV .,pear., but refers to the beast only .s H't" or Itth. _Md...nt," • term which It ~ll"ehOien to _phe­ ,Iz. the buck'. rol. e. a r.pr•••nt.uly. of the phy.lcal world. The buck d've. Into the leke fr. the ba•••f a "tre..hldden ell ff ,It and 'r.lt further develops the at...ptaere of .uspen,e eyoked by thl, -Vlterlou...bodl..nt by noting the Uti.. allowed for It to

.wl.... The appearance of the buck, whose f.roclou. yft..llty Is cer­ tainly I.pre••lve enough to ..,rant 'rost'. elaborate IntroductIon, he. a cll..ctlc quality. aut the point of the poeM Is ..st .ffectlvely conveyed by the phra.e with which It conclude., ....nd that w. eli." Frost does not al low the po. to en4 on the note 0' exel t ..nt struck by the a"..rance of his ••,hty stag, but Instead 'close. with an antlcU..ctie echo of the title, _pha.ldng not the terrifying yltal­ Ity of the world which the etag repre.ent., but the ..ptlnes. of a uni­ verte In which Mn can discern the workings of no IntelUgence which tran.cends brute .enlatlon. Fr. the point of yl. of the obe.rver on the beach, the Itag I. 'ndeed "nothing"; It Is Incapable of artl.. eul.Ung a r.lflOA•• to his crl.l. Geeaelonally FrOlt l.pll•• that natur.'. Indlff.rent ...k hide. the oUtline. of a d.r",.,e grin. In the '.ture'.ee wood of "The _r.. urg.-. Laugh." Frost delcrlbel a yltlon of a deltywhfeh he mafntalns has laste. him ''many and many a .,••r.'· 9

Tho sound was behfncl 1M Instead of bet'o..e, A sleepy 'OUM, but mocking halt, As of one who utterly couldn't eare. Tha f).-on arose fr. his wallow to laugh, BrushIng tho dirt from his eyo as he went, And we 11 t knew who t the Demon ...nt. webstar's third 'ntarftaslonal Olctlonarx of'er def'nltlen of d..lurge

""d'l Is approprlat. to FrOit's usa of the t : "an 'nf.rlor «'tOt abo- solutaly IntellIgent deity who I. the creetor of tbe ..ter••t -.rld • ,,14 ••• If thera Is anlntaU Igence ...oclat'" wIth the Nterl,a\ world, Frost 'mplte., It t. of .. Ifmitad natura, and's concern" with mankind only .s .. lubJect for ridicule. A better and lIO,..e f"ghtenlng po-. whIch likewl.. lugge.tI{the exlltence of a hostI Ie universe Is '-o.'9n." The·,.. does not deit speclflcaUy with the wllde""e•••~1, but I t Is Whotty re'eva.t.. to the conception of the world which the wl~dorneSI r.,ra.enU•

• found a dhllpled Ip'cler, 'at"lInd whIte, On a whIte heal-all, holding u~ II moth ..1I«t .. whhe ,Iece of rigid ••t~\n cloth.... Assorted chc)racters of death and ~llgbt MIxed reedy to begIn the ~n'ng ~'9ht. Llke the Ingredrents of a wltene.' broth-- A .now-drop .plder, a 'lower like. froth, And dead wings carried 11k. a paper kite. What had that flower to do with being white, The .yslde blue and Innocent he.t..aU? Wh3t brought the kindred spIder to that belght, Theft steer. tbe whlta MOth thither In tbe night? What but design of darkness to appa'I1-* If "'Ign govern In a thing so ...1•• 'fOe119n" Is written In the form 0' • Petrar.an sonnet. The s,lder, al It Is deserlbed In the open'"9 "ne of tbe octet••aeml no

14 PhIlip Gove, ed. (SprIngfield, 1961). '0 more ominous than the one that frightened Little M's, Muffet. But the whl••y Is only apparent. The Irony of 'rost's Intention I. made clear fn the fourth 'tne, whIch Identlf'e. the spIder, the flower, and the moth .s the r.presentatI ves of Itdeath and blight.II The subsequent cte· scription whIch compere. the three elements In the configuration to tha

IngredIents of a "witches' broth," contInues to «Ievelop the slnlstar tone, foreshadowing the pes.lmlstlc ph'losophlee' statement of the se.­ tete The se.tet Itself Is effectively constructd. The fIrst four 11 nes "e.ent the MtaphytIcal quot 'on wh' eh the ".eeect'n9 «Iete rt ptI on pos.', and the clos'ng couplat suppllas 'rost's r.,ly, the luggastlon that tha unusual scene he ha. "apletM Is the creetlon of a ..Ievolent poNer, Intent upon horrifying mankind wIth the prospect of lnevltabl•

• rt.llty and decay. AI the wordl ttbrought" and l'st••redH 'mply, the

IDOth Is the victiM of a netural Ich.. .mlch 'tis ha'p'e•• to 81ter. But Frost doel not Ins 1st that the Itcharaeter. of death and b 1& 9ht" have been produced by the de.lgn of a host' I. 'nt.,IJgence. 'erha,., a, the flna' line h'ntl, horror t, only 'ndlcatlve of human va'ues, and ". consequent'y, of no concern to whatever natural order there may be. The "'gu'ty only coatpouncts the I rony of the~. Men Is not only faced with two hIghly unplea.ant alternatIves In terms of whIch to e.platn the evIl In the world; he cannot even knQif enough to uke the cholca. Frost r.'nforce. the Ironic effeet by pl.y'n9 upon the ...lfora­ tr". cOftl1OtatJons of the cte.cd pUve terms whIch h••,Ioys. Ha ex­ ,lolU the "apllcaUons of the contrast between the whlta spl.r...th. an4 flower, and the black nIght with partfcular .ff.ctlven.... White­ ness frequently I•••socl.t.d w'th goodness or enlIghtenMent, bl.ckness wi th evl' and c.onfuslon; but In the ...., which suggests thet theNhI t. ~onftguratlon reveah .Uh.r the neta"gn 0' darkness" or the chaotic workings of chanc., the ctlstlnc.tlon bee...... nlngl.... Inste" of repre.entl"g beMvoient forces which oppose ..II,nant powers of etark.. nes., the wh't. eNract.,. .r. entirely subordlnat. to the 'epenetreble blackne.s which surround' th... The 'ronlc .Ignlffcance of the color Whit. I...pha.lzect by the fact that Frost', heal-a", by .ervlng •• the stage upon whIch the elr.. of ...... th and blight" It enacted, IDCkl the wl.hful n.e which ..n Nve t Iyen 't 1n the ._ wey that the entIre ,... IIOCks the ,... of goodn••• wtlleb ..n conventionally .".'ate with whltene... The fact that the 'lower •• nonully bl.... r.'nforce. the '.,r•••'on that the pettern •• the .nberate eontr Ivane. of a" I ntell1g.nee hostl Ie to

MnkiM. The f rony I. C_POUMect by the Impllutlon that cte.th, which the flower. ItOth. aM .pl.r re,re••nt, It the only "heal-al I" avail.. able to humen'ty• . Froat .,Ioys 'everal c.pa,hons which allo underscore his

Itonic rever••1 of the conventional connotat'ons of will tenal. The .rd urlgld" which .ppear. In 11M .3 of the ...... ua mothl Like • whh. piece of rlgle' .aUn cloth," lug9••t. both the brlttlen••••, the cloth and the stlffne.s of the corpse, foreshadowing the IdentIfication of the pettern with mortality and decay In line 4. The whit"lcal tone of

..ne 7, whi ch compare. the spIder to a Hsnow-drop" and the flower to

"froth,1t echoes the playful opening t lne; ~t, •• the grotetque c_per­

Ison of the next Ifne, "cIead Wing. carried llke .. ,..per kIte," ukes painfully apparent, the flippant tone, like the Oemlurge's aocking I.ugh, only refleets nature'••,parent rIdIcule of men's value.. The word "kindred" In the third line of the •••tet also reflects Frost'. IronIc technIque. As he us.s the ter., It Is .trlpped of any of the ameliorative connotatIons of consanguInIty, reiteratIng Inst.ad the fact that the spider Ihare. wIth the moth and the flower only a COMmOn color and a role In the natural Ich.. which tuds only to "th.

The rhyme seh.. which Frost .pJoys _phash••, like the fr... quent r.petltlon of the word "whit.," the significance whIch the color assUIMS In the poem. Unllk. IMny 'euareban sonnet., uDeslgnU repeats the InitIal or ..... rhyme In the ...tet (abb••abba aaaee). Since the na" rh.,.. begins (In both the octet and the I ••t.t) with Hwhlt.,1t the word Is echoed throughout the ~, wh'le the rhyaalng of the wordl

Itwhlt." and Itrlghtll wIth "bllghtH and I'nlght" r.flects Frostts play upon the ..lIoratlve 'apllcatlons of the color. Siallarly, the l11ylftlng of ftappe11" and Ith••I....lllt In the sestet eec;.ntuates Frostts exploitation of t" flower's name, and the us-e of a couplet Itr••••• the Ironic: twist whIch concludes th......

However, des,it. the luggestlon In "Design" and lith. o-tlurg.ts

Laughlf that the universe Is governed by a hostne Int.llI~nc•• en 13 overriding 1.,r8sllon of MtU...·S absolute 'ndlfference to Nn II con­ vttyM by suc.h poem. as HTheMost of It," .....lth.r Out Fa,. Nor In Deep,1l

"Upon LookIng Up at the COnst.llatlon.... ". Will Sing You One-O," end HAGqualnted with tha NIght." 'arheps. a. the Jau Una In ltOas'gn" ,_,lie•• the 'mp"ess'on of ..Ievol.nce exist. only In the eye of the beholder, man. who, Itke the f'gure on the beach In ltThe Most of 't." II ridiculed only by "the mockIng echo ofhh own unanswe,ed erie. for mean'ng. lven the 0-Iurge', 'augh Is that of one U"",o utterly couldn't care." The universe, a. 'rost descrIbes It In "Acquainted with the Night" and tt' Will S.ng You One-O," I•• vast clockllk. mechanls. whIch ticks regul.rly on at the peee determIned by Its cogs and lIIIh...s. with no more coneern for ..n·••thlca' confu.lon than a ~.Jde a'arm ha. for the condition of the Ileeper It awake.. The .tonty night which .,.. pears In .ach 0' the bIG poeM .ervel tt.. .ame symbolic functIon 8' does the wllder.,..I. loth ~ portray .,.t chaM within the fr~rk of mechan IIt fcorder. theroy ref1eet' ng the p1l ght ., "'ern .an. who

3S scientist ha. uneover.-d the 'ntrlcate workings of nature only to fInd that thay cteny thOle fnf.rences of lftOtat ""Jue which he has ucle as phltoaopMr. The ..... I Itv.vate ,rOlt·s bell.f that In the .plr­

Itual desolatIon ..epr•••nted by the nIght 0' the wlldernesl men ar. not only condemned to Individual lon.lIness. but also to Mutual fear and conflIct.

In II' 'If 11 S' ng You One-O.If Jn wh Ic:h , rost desert bes wek In9 on a wIndy. snowy nIght to hear the clocks of the town strike the hour of 14 one, he NkeS the relatlon.hlp between the Jocal clock. and the grut meehanl,. of the unlver.e explicit:

fn that grave One They spoke of the lun And MOOn .nd .ter•• Saturn and Mars And ,Jupf tor. Stili more unfettered. They l.ft the .,..... And spoke of the Jettered. 1'btt ...... and tav. Of constellations. 1'bey fIned the'r throats With the furthest bodle. To which ..n senti hft Speculation. "yomf wh I ch lod I•• The cosmic mote. Of yewn'ng I.n.... theIr solemn PNh Vere not thel, owrt: They spoke for the clock With .... yalt ....,. Thefr. Interlock. Whatever God there Is remains outside raen's c..,rehens'on. beyond the

'Meh of' hit "speculatIon." As he proceed•• 'rostlnd'cate. the appar­ ent almle.snes. 0' creation, end l.plles that a .ense of thIs purpose­ le••nes. h•• affected the behavIor of men to men. Th.ough let so far ftl whirling frenz'es Appear lIke standIng In one .e" .tatlon. It hal not ranged. And uve for the wonder Of once expandIng To be a nOVI, It has not changed To the eye of man On planett over Around and under It In creation Sf nee un began To drag down man And nation nation. IS

fn "AcquaInt'" with the Nitht.u Frost dr..th•• hIs own unsuc­ ces,f"l .....ch for ..,.a' order In .. unlver.. which he find••U.n and lnet"ferent. Rather than risk the d.~'" of ..,,-,Ity or ..uenln self-ctr..tlzatlon, he open. and close, the PHIl with. line whIch sug­ ge.ts that hit ,.rsona' frultr'at'on Is not a unique cur••• but reftects line 'ncUcat••• he I. only lIone" 0' uny .en who ..... hact to ltve In an age of' .plrI tua' bewlldef'lMnt.

t have been one acqua'nt" w'th the ftltht. , have walked out In raln..·and back In rain. t have outwalUd the fur'....t cIty tight.

, have looked downth•••eW••t city lane. , have pelsed by the watchmen on hf I beat And dro".. IRY • .,.., """,lttlng to ••,'aln. • have • toed It111 an4 • t"'" the I ..NI of f ..t When f.r away an Interrupted cry c.. over hous•• trOll enother 'tr..t .. Ivt not to call _ back .r '.y good-by; And further stIll at an unearthly heIght, One '.'nary clock agaln.ttM .ky 'rocl...... the tl• • _ ....It...r wrong ..... r'ght. a have been one acquaInted '"Ith the nt gh t • The clock to whIch Frost refers In lIne. 11 to 13 recalls the

"alt clock of the un'ver•• th4t he portrays in "f Witl $Ing You One·o.'· The siMIlarity is emphasized in pertlcul.r by the suggest'on that the

ft It JlID r""roy C IGCk Is the moon. It appears at an "unearthly height • •

• 8g8fils t the sky." and the term ''Iuml nary ,It as the RxfordlnsIIsh Dictionary states, Is "pr....em.nently a,p. ted to the sun or tn. moon." 16

(Aceoretlng to an okolete us.9ft•• t continues, the t .... Uthe 1_'Mr..... often re'erred to tbe .un end the MOOn.) As In •• , W.II SIng You Ofteoo'O.u then, the clock repr..entl the Indlff.rent uchlnery of Mture , . whIch Nn born Into the "'rhual n'ght wh'oh charecterlz.. our tttl • cen dltcern ne'ther good nor ev'l. fn this CORtex'. the word uproc'al'"

It well-chosen, .fnce the MOOI\ enel rcle. the .arth. and ,'nee-- tlke the word Uti_e_-It reeon"ras the "apUeaUon that ,,...t', cUI... I. ch.racterlstlc of our era.

The poet's 'nabliity to '.t'sfy hIs long'ng. for a revelation of

....1 or.r •• Incllcated both by the ••cr.,tlon of his .-net.rlngs .nd by the 'tructura of tha ~ It.elf. "'s walk••ra round tr'ps. Lfke tM ~, which begIns and endl with tha I" Itatement, he never .,­ dve. anywhere. 'nMI only ,...egr...lon lilIhlch the,... _lea, 'S fl". the ,.,Uc.tlons of .Ii.....tlon and confu.loncarrhHl by the .,.n"" scenes tothe ex,lIclt ••••ion of .,al bewU.....nt In the fin.' couplat.

Tbe rhy," contrlbut.. to the fMUng .f purposeIe••••• whIch the ... COttvey.. The ..coneS ..ne .erves 8' en • .,.e: '" have _tkeel out In r.I.,..·.n4 back In r.ln.u Here t .... rhvtt.-'cal ItrO.I••1

••1 •• tho "Ih, underscores the para' '.1 c••trucelon of the two phra'.1 Mglnning with "outH and Hbeck." The rhyme pettern (.ba;bcb; c4c;dd;••) .11. ,.o'nf.rc.. tho '..,..o'ilon of clrcul.rlty. The flrlt an4 t.lt line. of NCh .laAza rhyM••net the In' tI.1 rh~ Is r.,..tect •n thee.01' "9 couplet. In l'Acqua'nted w'th the Night," •• In tt. 'It II Sing You One-O." Frost .ploy. theurb4n .ettlng offect'vely in order to _pha.lze the I]

Indlvldualls holatlon from his feI1OW1Nn- ... problem which I. magnified by the loss of a cOl'II8Only shared Iyst_ of values In term. of which ..n

My cOIaIUnlcate wIth one another. In both ~" tM .t.nRY night has , driven MOlt lINIn off the str..ts and Into theIr ..... 10 tut even In the city they live apert, Immured agaln.t the threatening darkne.s.

Wanting any Iyst. of objectIve v.lue., they turn Into t ...... lvet. so that the house, are. perha". repre.entatlye of the IndivIdual subjec­ tivIty which .eperate, man 'rOD ..n. AI' shall mention again. Fr.st .hare. little of the hope Camus expr.s••• In lbe ,1-821 that ..nls spirit of rebellion against an ab,ur4!l unlyer.ewlJl resuft In an a'" flt'MatJon of hUNn .olld..... ty; Instead. the night of IIOrat confu.lon I..HS to IndIvIdual sol Stude and wtual ,usplcton. The poet I. "un­ w'lllng i to ,peak to the only porson he ....tI. who .s. appropriately•

.. "watehnaan," a IIIn hi red by men 'n order to ,rotect tn-,elve. 'rOIl other ..n. The cry In the third .t.nz.·.. th. Inarticulate wall to which human communication he. been rHuced...... not only fnterrupted, but ,eperated f,.. the H It.ner bV the hOUte.. The $en.e of c_,'ete l,oJation Is furth.r ,e'nforCed by Frost'. Itat-.nt that when he paused, the sound of feet .topped. and that the cry we. l'not to call

Me beck or .ey tood-byto"

"AcquaInted with the "Ight." like .....'gn.. and nTh. Most of It...

Is MOng Frost's best poeu. He avoids the exce.slve .ent'..ntat Ity which charecterhe••ny modern bew4iI" ..ntl of persona' frustration and confusion by treatIng his Indlvlduel d'l.... not a. a unIque .f,­ fortune or .n unulual psychic wound, but as repre.entatlve of thet 18 conflict between the human need 'or 180....1order HCt the INbl1hV to dhi­ cern It which INIny ..n MV4t had tof'ace In OUr century. Following hit de.crlptlon of the nIght, of the mode,-n clll_ and Its consequences, Frost'.....,.U tlon of the open'ng 11 ne at the end of the poem sounds lIke an understatement. Both "AcquaInted with the HIght" and ." Will SIng You One"O" ,,,... dleate that human relatIonshIps haV4t suffered In the ethIcal ..,teland of the modern world. Although he clearly recognIze. the corrosIve e'- fects of the modern dIlemma upon the tles between man and men, however. Frost beHeve. that the IndIvidual hUINn being Is capable of ..tnta'"... Ing • certain dignIty even In an er. of morat bewlld.nnent. Rather then accept a degraded. or Kafkaesque vIsion 0' men, he sugSests that whatever higher order there Is conffrm. his own estimate of man's ..... sentlel worth. I should like to examlne fn this context the short lyrIc, "For Once, Then. SomethIng." Othe...s taunt me wIth havIng knelt at wett"curbs AI.-vs wrong to the light. 10n...r ''''Ag Deeper down t n the we I t than wh.re the water Glvel .. back In a shining Iurfac. ,'cture Me mvs.1 f f n the I~r heave'" god It ke Lookfng out of a wre.tho' f.rn. and cloud puff•• Once. when trvtng with chin aga_.nst a wel1-curb, • discerned, .1 I thought, beyoqd the picture, Through the pleture, 8 lomethlng white, uncerta'n, Something eor. of the depthl.~8nd th.n • 100t It. Water came to rebuke the too cle.r water. One drop fell from. fern. and 10. a rlppl. Shook whatever It wes lav th.re~t bottOM, Blurred It, blotted It out. Wha~"1 that whiteness? Truth? Apebbte of quartz? Fo, ~ce, th.n, SOMething. Frost's position at the well-curb il a car.funy developed c~­ celt through which he descrtbes his phi tosophlcat quest for some 19

&bsolut. or fdul. The concludIng phr•••• "'or once. then, something," whIch receive. additIonal emphasis a. the tItle of the poem, Indicates 'rost's acceptance of the possIbilIty that lome absolute does exist. even though It , ..Ins Inscrutable. Moreover. the fact that the poet does perceIv. "sGlHthIng" conf IrAtS the dJgnIfled" J,Ion of un wh Ich his position t'wrong to the IIghtU affords. 'rost Inshts that whateY' ftnal truth the,e "y be IWIt be .een through-"an. consequently _st gIve value to--th. plctur. 0' hl••elf which surf.ce re.llty refl.cts The laportance of the surface picture Itsel', or of m.n In natur., I• .....Ih.et by the IntentIonally redundant t.....y.elf,'t the words .*h..... venti and 'tgocfllke." the h.lo-l1k. "wr.ath of f.rn and cloud puffl,u .nd the rhetorlc.l .tr... proctuced by the all It.r.tlve tts" syll.ble.: 'lshlnln9 surf.ce ...... ,.It In l'ne. 7 to II, which describe that partlcul.r Inlt.nce In hlch the poet fInally percelv•• III000th'"g ore of the depths," h.

:.tr..... the 'act thet Jt Is .een not only "beyond the plctur.1t but

tthrough the plcturel~-w'thout losing sight of the picture. The lines echo RobInson's ItCredo," which also concludes .ffl....tly.ly: No, there Is not a gll.mer. nor a c.ll, '01" on. tMt welc...... Ie... llIlhen he fee,.., Th. bl.ck .nd awful chao. of the n'ght; 'or through It .Il,·-.bove, beyond 't all,-­ I know the f.r-sent ...... ge of the y••,.., I feel the cam'ng g'ory of the Light! Although FrOlt'. g".P'. 0' .n _bftUOUI .....thlng'· .xpr••••' no hope for the eventual .nJlght....nt wh'ch Rob'n.on predicts, both poets I.ply that even In the moral ch.os of our age the Indlvldu.1 can 20 pre••rve his dignity and Integrl ty. The exalted pIcture of hfmself which Frost .ee. r.flected In the well, like the "dark, marvelous, and Inscrutabl." flgur. which Robinson s... silhouetted on the hIlltop In

"Man Against the Sky." str.sses the nobility of Nn. r

In the final line, t~ruth1 A pebble of quartz? For once, then,

'OIMthlng," Fro'tagaln Juxtapose. the r..l and the Ideal. The _blgu­ ous whltenea. disappears, but the .ugg.stlon of value underlying the

"shining lurfaee plctur." ,..Ins. The 9"mp.e of .mhenes. Is the poet', answer to thOle who have taunted hfm for Inshtlng on the signi­ fIcance of the godlIke visIon of man In nature which the surface of the water reflects. Frost skillfully exploht the InventIon upon which the

~ rests In order to ..phaslze the Interre'atlonshlp of tha raal and the Ideal which It all.rtl.

Although he portrays the modern world .s a .,Irltual wllderne••, In whIch men-"although they mey ..Intaln a certain Individual dlgnlty-- are Isolated 'rom ona another by mutuel f.ar and lusplclon, Frost as­ serts tho valu. of earthly existence. In ...Irch.... "e ..ke. explicit his .fflnDatlon of life In spite of Its ..ny '.perfectlons and the de­ slra whIch he occasionally f ..l. to esca,. Its vicissitude.:

It'. when It. weary of considerations, And life Is too much like a pathless wood Where your 'ace burns and tickle. wIth the cobwebs .roken acrOiS It, and one eye Is weepIng From a twig's havl ng l••hed across It open.. "6 like to get .-.y from earth ..nIle And then COlH back to It and Mgtn over. May no fate willfully .Isunderstand .. 21

And half grant what I wish and snatch 1M ..y Not t~ return. larth', the right place f.r love: I don't know where It', likely to go bettor.

Even In the trackl.,• .cod of a morally Indlff.rent nature, In which RIOdern un wanders confu.ecHy, an e.sy prey to spiritual weariness, llf. offers c.rtaln attractIons.

I should like to disculs In greater ctetan than "'Irches" e IlUch shorter and 1.ss poputer ,..a. ItOn Going Unnoticed." nto latter ,.. also suggests that HEarth" the right place for love," but the ."Inu­ tlon •• more restrained, and, I feel. mor. e"ectlve:

As vain to r.lse a volee ••• sigh In the tumult of free 1••vel on high. What .re you 1n the .had_ .f tr.., Engaged up tbere with the light end breez.?

LeiS than the cor.I-root you know That Is content with the daylight low. And has no lea... at .11 of It. own. Whose spotted f lowers he", ....nly down.

You gr.sp the bark by • rugged pl.at, And look up ...0 fr. the forest's , ..t. The only 1••f It drops goes wIde, Your n... not written on either sid•• You linger your l'ttle hour and are gone, And Itll' the woodl sweep 'e.'lly on, Not even .;,slng the coral-root flower You took .s • trophy of the hour.

Once again Frost .pJoys the wi hternes, setting. The contrast between light and shadow IntrodUCed In the first Itanza, ,uppl.anted by the contralt between the I'fr.. le.ves on high" and • plant .ppre,d· atelY named coral-root which h.1 no ' ..ve, at all sugge.ts the conflict batween ..n'l need to dllcern , .. tranlcenclent val". an4 his Inability 22 to do so. In the modern world, ...n, who cannot cOlltprehend and a".r.. ently goes "unnoticed" by the higher order toward. which hfs spirit y..rnl, ",ult flnaUy content hlm.eH with the h.",fect beautle. of earthly I He. wi th a plant "Who.e spotted flower. hang ..anly down." The poem Is carefully written. The syntax Is cle.r and the yocabulary Ilmple, but the language I. characterlled by a precIsIon which place. It far above the barta', conversational 'evel frequently seen in Frost', drametlc narrative.. Rhythm effectIvely reInforce•

• anlng a. In the line, "AI va'n to 'ahe 11 vo'ce a. a sigh," .ere the .lIlter.trye, h••yJ1y accented ltv" sounds _pha,'ze the relation'"

Ship between "yaln" and 'Iyolce," and accentuate the dro, whIch occurs at the end of the line. The long syllable. In "And stilI the woodl sweep I.aflly on," also underscore the sens., contrl butf n9 to I tI suc- c... .s one of the beltitne. I n the poeat. The rhyme Icheme _ph.- sh., key words, such ., "s'gh," "Iow,lt Itdawn," uf••t,lI "gone," and

"hour." The Shake.peartan edt" (n another gGOd 11 ne, "You II nge,. your little hour and are gone,lI supports the contrast between man's aph... arat ex',tence and the eternal wood' developed In tha lalt Itanza. In this context the word "trophy" Is well chol.n. For un, fac.d with a

'Ife 10 fl..ting, the flower's not so poor a prlz•• FrostI. appreclathm of natural beauty for I tI own sake as .. real Ity wh I ch has va'ue I n f uetf Is also .xp.....ed I n the .poem l'Hyla

H Irook : Iy Jun. our brook'i run out 0' long and lpeed Sought for IJUch .fter that, I t wI' I be fGUnd Either to have gone grO"'lng underground (And taken with It 811 tha Myl. breed 23

That shouted In the .Ist a month .go, LIke ghost of .1.'9h.. bell, In a ghost of snow)-­ Or flourished an4 come up In jewel-weed, WUk foliage that II blown upon and bent Even agaInst the way Ite water. went. ItI bed It left 8 faded peper sheet Of d.ad Ie.... Ituck tog.th.r by the heat-­ A brook to none but who r-....ber long. Thl. a. It will be ...n 'S other far Than wi th brooks taken othe""".r. In long. we love the thln9' we loy. f.r whet they are.

The real brook, with It. IOftg and ,peed subject to the ....on. Is pre­ ferred to the romantIcized Ilter.ry brook whfch babble' the whole year round.

The attitude whIch Frost expresses towards Iffe In the moral wi Iderne•• of the ....rn world In "On GoIng Unnetlc"· Is character" Istlc of that whIch h. a'sumes throughout the body of hIs poetry. As the poem Indlc.te., Frost ., a thorough"golng skePtIc, but not apes­

,Im'st; h. recognize, the Irony of man's sItuatIon In the mod.rn w.l .. d.rn...... un.bl. to comprehend the transcend.nt order for which the human spIrit yearns"-but h. avoIds d••pelr. Me see•••rthly "fe and hs pl.asur•• for what they ar...-flawed, .pheme,.', and unsatlsfY'ftg-- but the fact that he perceive. th••e IIm'tatlOM .0 c'early ...k•• hI. final affinDatlon the mor••ffectlve. In an apparently Indlff.rent universe mod.rn man II fet.d to live. life of .plrhua' frustration, but Frost ass.rtl that he he. the nobilIty and strength of spirit to do 10.

The wf tderne... or the Itpeth1ess wood,1t which surround. the clear'ng In Frost's poetry, then I. 'v-bolfe of the mechanistIc unl- verse, unconc.rned with the human ne.d for ~.I and ethical guIde., 24 which science has reyealed to m8n. It represents. world which denies any inf.rences of transcendent yalue, and In whIch man Is laolated from un by the 10$1 of any cCl1Donly shared Iyst_ of beliefs In terms of which cODmUnicatlon would be possible. Like C.-ul' plague, Frost's wl'derne.s I ytnboI Ize. the unlversa' prospect of .,al chaos which, by contradIcting thOle values and 'deals heretofore believed to dlst'ogulsh men 'roe the anl..I., threatenl to Itr', hI. of his humen qu.l.t•••• THE CLEAR ING

Although Frost believe. that man lives in a universe which ap- pears to be absurd, he doe. not turn to despelr; he does not i.ply that the individual can only beCCll'ltt a "spiritual drifter," destined to w.n- der erratically in .. wildernesl of ideological confusJon. He insists that man can and mUlt establish a clearing In the wilderness, .. limited dOMain of ethical order in teras of which he can save his humanity de· spite the prospect of moral chaol. Like Camus' I'homme r!yolt" Frost believes that through the unflagging exertion of his will and the co- ordlnated efforts of his mind and body, man can maintain his el.arlng. that Is. transcend bestial anarchy and preserve his hUManity In an

.Ileo world.

In uRober t Frost and the Edge of the C188 rI n9,II James Cox recog- nJzes the Importance which the conflict between the clearing and the wilderness assumes In Frost's poetry. but he discusses the development of the clearing only as Frost's attempt to cre.te, from the wildernesl of his personal experience, the ··.yth of Robert Frost. The Only Genu­ 15 Ine Robert Frost In Captivity." According to Cox, Frost 15 primarily concerned with dramatizing and characterizing himself a. a New England farmer poet. a. a "kind of stage Vankee full of gnomic wisdom and prankish humor, carrying his history In his head and venturing cryptic

15Ylrginia quarterly Reylew, XXXV (Winter, 1959), 74. 26 comment upon all .xperlenc. In • sufficIently provlncl.l manner to r.· 16 mInd thea of • pr.conc.lved c.rlcatur.... Since Cox falls to discusl the direct r.latlonshlp between Frost's sV-bollc us. of the wild.rness .nd the Indlff.r.nt unly.rs. which modern man confronts, It II not lurpriling th.t h. llkewls. f.lls to pote the unlver••1 slgnlflc.nce which the cl••rlng .ISumeS. If Frost's contrf· butlon to modern American poetry I. to be .ccur.t.ly ey.luated. it Is ess.ntl.1 to recognlz. that h. I. not only developing a ch.r.cter for hlms.lf, but. ch.r.ct.r In the context of our tlmel. H. Is not limply conc.rned wIth cre.ting uThe Only G.nuln. Robert Frost In CaptIYlty''''· he is prtmarlly conc.rned with dr••tlzlng through his description of the perlonellty which Inhabits and pre••rv.s the clearIng, the prln­ clpl•• which coaprlse his r.spons. to the mod.rn dilemma. Th. Importanc. which Frolt attrlbut.s to the clearing Is Indl- cated by the fact th.t h. calls his last volume of published poetry

In the Clearlns. He auk•• the unlv.rsal slgnlflcanc. of the clearing

In the wlldern.ss evld.nt in one of the first poeml In the coll.ctlon,

UA Cabin In the Clearing," In which the personifications of I 'Smoke" and

l Ilml st ' appr.iI. the shuation of mod.rn ...n, "The kindred spl rJ t of an

I nner haze": MIST I don't believe the sleeper. In thl' hoUI. Know where they .r.. SMOKI They' y. been here long .nough To push the woods back fr...rouncl the house And pert thea In the .ld41. with. path.

16 .!!!.!!., p. 75 27

HIST And stIll I doubt If they know where they ar•• And I begIn to feer they never wIll. All th.y ..Int.'n the path 'or I. the comfort Of visIting with the equ.lly bewildered. Hear.r In plight their neighbors ar. th.n dlst.nce. SMOKE I am the guardl.n wr.lth of .t~rJlt sm_ke That I..nl out thIs and that way from their chImney. I wll' not h.ve the'r h."lnos, de,,.lred of. "'.ST No one--not '--would give tn.. up for lost SI.ply bec.u•• they don't know wh.r. they .re. In the face of the .llen unl.".,•• that the wIlderness r.pr•••nts. Frost turns to hope rather than d••pal,. oesplte the ulnner hazw' of mor.l confusion which INn luffe" In an Indlff.r.nt world. h. Is capable .f creating. 1I.lted order•• lUll cl••rlng like "_'ngwey's itA CI.an. wen-Lighted Pl.c.... In which he can .scape the thr.at of spIritual

Th. I.n•••f .ecurlty whIch man can dl.coy.r In the cl.arlng Is lugg.sted by a number of Frost's ,...... n9 tt•• uCocoon" and "AtMS- phere." The letter. which Is subtitled, n'nscrl ptlon for. larden Wat1 ," conveys flWch the .... 118pr.,,'on of .tabllity .Idst chaos a. does Vvor Wlnt.r's r.ference to his neighbor', g.rden In "Iy the Road to the '7 Alrba..... Fr.st', poent r••dl e. follows:

17The callou'ed graIl lie. hard The hIghway, lIke a beach, AgaInst the cracking pl.ln: Turn. whIter. shadowy, dry: Llf. Is • grayl.h Italn; Loud. pale agalnlt the sky. The .alt-Nrsh h_1 my y.rd. The boablng ,lane, hold .peech. Dry dIkes rise hill on hIlI: V.t fruIt grows on the tr.e.; In slought of tidal ,II.. Her. schol.rs peuse to speak; Shel'-fl,h .eposlt II... Through g.rden. bar. and Greek. Wild sea-fowl cree,.t will. I he.r -v neighbor's be.l. Collected Poems. 2nd ed. (London,I960), p. 77. 28

Wlndl blow the open gr.sly places ble.k; But .nere this old ~ll burnl a sunny cheek, They eddy over It too toppling weak To blow the ..rth or .nythlng lelf-clear; Moisture .nd color and odor thicken here. The hOUri .f daylight g.ther atMOSphere.

Just a... g.rdener erectl walll agalnlt the wInd which deslcc.tel the bleak "gr.ssy pl.c..... s. that his g.rden will thrive. man e.t.bllshe. barriers .f v.lue .galnst the prospect of despair which h. confronts

In .n Indifferent unlv.rse 10 that life becomes meaningful.

In 'tyhe Figure In the Doorway" Frost indlcat.s the dignity whIch Is achieved by the Individual who Is able through his own 'abors to

Impose upon an Indifferent world .n order which Is lufflclent to ..In- taln hi. Integrity. The poet attrIbutes to the solitary figure whom he gllmpt.s fro. a pas.'ng train an alpect of lonely grandeur 11_ll.r to that wh 1ch Rob Inion alcrlbel to uThe Ken Ag.1 nlt the Sky.It The poem opens with the poet's descrlpt'on of the westeland In whIch the fIgure lives, a "monotony" of '.vel ground covered only by stunt" oaks. th.t raealll the "sameness" of the wIlderness in ''The D_lurge's Laugh." Frost's Introduction of the figure as that of a "'Ivlng manit f.,.e- shadows the approbatlve tone est.bllshed In the subsequent 'Ine, "His gr.at gaunt figure filled his cabin door." The ..n's ability to sur­ vIve In the wasteland h. Inh.blts Is made explIcIt In the next few lines: And had he fall.n InNerd on the floor, He ..,st h.lve .....ur.d te the further wall. But we whe ,..sed were not to see hili fal'. Th••1'e, and .11•• h. lived frem anY'i'here were evidently ....thfng h. could bear. Ne stood unshaken, and I' grl••nd gaunt. It we. not necessarily fr. want. 29

He had the oaks for heat~ng and for light. He had a hen, he had a pig In sight. He had a well, he had the rain to catch. He had a ten-by-twenty garden patch. The first two lines of the quotation, like Frost's statement that the man "filled" the cabin door, suggest that the c.abln Is measured to fit human needs. It Is made by man hl.self In order to supply his own wants. The "unshaken" figure In the doorwy represents Frost's belief that man can endure life In a world In whlc.h God I., at best, remote, and that the stru991e to endure endows hi. with a certain nobIlIty.

Like the lonely fIgure who has acquIred the food and shelter essential to physlca' lIfe frem a wasteland, mankInd can establish the values essential to the preservatIon of spiritual uprightness. The conclusIon of the poem (reiterated more explicItly In such poems lilt) "A Or..lIn Woodchuck" and "A Serious Step Lightly Taken") sug­ gests Frost's belle' that the order which the clearing represents fs secured by the IndIvidual or by the family, the basic social units, rather than by loc'ety. Unlike Camus, who stresses the 'mportance of human solidarity In the struggle to defeat the plague of absurdity, Frost expres.e. I'ttle hope that the Individual will be able to dIs­ cover a satisfactory response to the modern dilemma In unIted socIal actIon

For Frolt, part of the dIgnity that the IndivIdual acquire. through the

.stabllshment of I'll. cl••rlng Is derived from his ability, once h. hal obtaln.d poss.sslon of hi. own ord.r, to either accept or reject the attitudes currently held by society In general. Secure within hI. own self-sufficiency, he ..y grant or withhold h•• acqulescenc., h. may wave or not, as hi. awn bell.f. dictate.

Per"'ps the leverest crltlcl. that can be leve'. agaInst

Frost's philosophical position Is that It incorporat•• no concept .f locial r••pontlbfllty·.. that, l'kethe drumlfn woodchuck, he Is too quick to "dive down unet.r the fa",,' when faced wI th the harsh reall­ tie. of Ute "Lik. wer and pestllencel And the loss of CQIMlOn s.n..... But the woodchuck', burrow, like the clearing, r.pr••ents those prlft- elpl., upon whIch the Indlvlduel has baled hi. Ilf., and not an un" realIstic e.ea,. from on.'. responslbllltl.s to his fellow ..n. "All we who pre'er to Ilv.," Frost stet••, r.turn to our burrows at "th. least a'anat' arwl "tak. occasion to thInk." A man who wish•• to r.taln his IntegrIty Of humen'ty In .plte of the combined physIcal and Ipirl- tu.1 thr.U posed by • chaotic world, the "double-barreled blast," can only r.v.rt to a system of values whIch he himself has founGed.

In the short poera, "Beech," Frost make. the tyatbol'e sign' fI- cane. of the clearing In the wlld.rness ~p"cit. Th. poem reaGs al follows: Wh.r. any I.g'nary lIne Bends square in woods, an Iron spIn. And pile of real rocks hay. been rounc:ted. And off this corner In the wIld, Wh.r. th.s. are drIven In end piled. 31

One tr.., by being d..ply WGunctM, Kas been '.pr.s.eeI .1 Wltne.s Tre. And made cOI1MIt to .....ry My proof of being not unbounded. Thus truth's e.tabllshed and borne out, Though circumstanced with dark and doubt-­ Though by • world of doubt surrounded.

As the last three Jine. of the POM indicate, the "wood',1t or the ltw'I4," repre.ents a ltwor1d of ctoubt," and the plot of tand which the poet hal marked off Is the "truth" or order which he has .ecur. against the surrounding ehaos. The statement that the poem make. fl obvious enough. The world Is • mor.t wllderne.s fn Which the Individual can .stabllsh only a )hllted order, 8 smelt clearing In the tlpathless wood," so that the .rken which .,.e the poet's "proof of beIng not unbound...... • Iymbet- leze both the limitation. of the order whIch he comprehends and the fact that h. comprehend. ft. As In "At...ph.r.... then, the very act of establl.hing MeanIng Involves the ta.k of erecting barrIer. against the 811en universe which .edern Man Inhabit.. To Frost nature Is a foe to be r••'sted by man In hIs atteMpt to create meaning; It Is not, as It Is to Wordsworth, a friend who can lead man to the dIscovery of transcendent value••

Throughovt the poem Frost us•• "erbs which denote violent or forceful action In order to underscore the fect that the IndIvidual Must struggle hard If he Is to survive the conflIct between men and nature """Ich the opposl tlon between the cle.rlng and the wilderness symbolizes. The "Iron splnell hal been "drlven" Into the .rth. and

Is further supported by rocks IIpi'l ~dl' .agal nst I ts base. whIle the beech has been "deeply wounded" or tll.pressed." 32

Similarly, FrOlt playl upon teMmlnology .ssoclated with the law,

lueh as "WItness,1t "proof.1I and "circumstanced." Th. I.pllcatlon Is

that "truth," like lega' evldenc. of a property elal., cannot be care-

....lyassUlHd, but mutt be fl,..Iy '''stabllshed and borne out."

At In his ,..t on the subject of labor, 'rOlt Indleat•• In "Beech" that the cr.atlon of ...nlng Involva the .stabllshlHnt 0' • 1I.It.d correspondence between the r..1 and the "..glnary. Th. cl.rlng Is that

, ..II area In whIch un has ..nag. to subordlnat. nature to ht. GIIIm

need for order, In whIch the Indlyldual ha. en'orc" an apparent resolu-

lion of the duell.. of .Ind and ..u.r that he confronts In the IIOdern world. The positIon of the " .....,I08ry lin." In the first var•• I•

• arked by the "r••1 rocks" In the third, and by the ulron" stake In the

.econd, In ....,eb 'ro.t undersc.ral the rel.tlonshlp by rhyatlng "spina" with 11lIne." The rh.,.lng of "Wltne•• TrM" and "....ry.. In lines 7 and 8, like the perall.1 structure .f the two lin••, ""fch JUJIltapos.s

U,.,re""1t and ftc_I t,lI ah. relnforcel the la,I'el t correspondence

between the 'ntel1actual ancf the ..te,la1. fn addI tlon, the rhyM

Icheme ..rkl the eonc'u.lon of each of the four trlpl.tl by repeatIng the "bt' rhyMe, while the ter.e tetr_ter line accentuat.. the dec.,. tlve ".pllclty of a highly .ophl'tlcated poaa.

fn hi. '~el.te Poems Frost placal • second poem call.d "Syca-

11IO....' on the .8M 1Nge wI th "Beach." The poem reads:

Zaccheus he Old clImb the tree Our Lord to se••

Frost obvloully Intends to sugg.st a connection betwe.n the Iye...re 33 which Zaccheus climbed in order to see Jesus (Luke XIX 2~'O). and his own Witnes, Tree. 80th Frost and Zaccheus are concerned with the'r re~ spectlve trees at Implements which aid them In the attempt to discern

.anlng. Perhaps Fr'Ost wishes to sU9gest the ironic contrast between an era in which S~ men, like Zaccheus, believed that they could ,ee God walking upon the earth, and even dine with "'m, end an IIge In -..hlch other men, like Frost, conceive ef lod, If they can believe In HI. at

811. as .. Befng fer rMOved Fr. human concerns. But Frost Ny aho be implYing that through~lt h:stQry It h.s been through the active attempt to discover or to establish meanIng that men have most nearly approached whatever God or transcendental order there may be. His ....ech.. may witness not only the bounds which real'z. hts cl••rlng, but .lso the will to order which ml9ht stand a. evIdence of men', relationship to some h 19Mr good. "Directive" Indicates Frost's belle' that the ".lues which enable men to order and to clyllize the world 'n which they l'v. are IntrInsic to humankind, so that even In an era of moral bewilderment the Indlyl ... dual can dIscover them In himself If he il w'ltlng to se.rch hard enough. The poem is frost's direct'", to contemporarIes to find wlth'~ themselves the spiritual strength to clear the moral wIlderness in which th

As Fros t makes expli cit in the c los; n9 reference to itA broken drinking goblet like the Grail," the poem plays upon the Mythical quest that ..... been 8 popular subject In western literature for centuries.

The various versions of the myth afford lome of the numerous literary precedents for Frost's use of the wllderne.s to symbolize moral chaos. Like other versions of the myth. the quest that Frost describe. Involves a Journey through a wasteland to a source of water. which symbolizes an Inner journey through .plrltual desolation to spiritual renewal. The

Poem opens: Back out 0' .11 this now too much for us. Back In a time mede simple by the lOIS Of detail, burned, dissolved, and broken off Like graveyard marble sculpture In the weather, There Is • house that II no more a house Upon a farm that Is no IIOre a f.rm And In a town that I. no MOre. town. The roed there, If you'll let a guide direct you Who only has at heart your getting lost, May .e.. a. If It should have been a quarry-­ Great monolithic kn... the former town Long since gave up pretense of keeping covered. And there's a story In 8 book about It: Besl de. the wear of Iron wagon wheels The ledge. show lines ruled southeast northwest, The chisel work of an enonDOUS Glacier That braced his feet against ,he Arctic Pole. You must not mind a certain coolness from him Still said to haunt this side of 'anther Mountain. Frost make. the relationship of his wasteland to the modern world and Its confused Inhabitants evident In the first line. The reference to the graveyard sculpture, shorn of detaIls like names and dates which are relevant to specific periods and people, suggests that the "time" to which Frost refer. Is one In which men are aware of general truths-- the eternal fact of death--rather than ephemeral pertlculars--the Indl- vidual dead. The place or the era to which Frost offers to guide the reader represents those values which, Frost Implle., are as much a part of mankind's lot a. the lner.dlcable fact of his mortality. tn order to discern the.e values, however, the re.der must get ''lost,'' he must 35 escape from the chaotic mals of detail, composed in part perhaps of the data which the scientist has compiled, that obscures his spiritual perspective. Frost's description of the g08l, Ita house that is no more a house,"--not simply the town In which the house Is located or the farm on which It stands--suggests at the outset of the poem that the values which he wishes his contemporaries to rediscover are the Irre­ ducible principles, the axioms upon which human civilization Is founded. Like travel on the rock-strewn road of a quarry, however, the way to spiritual clarification Is difficult. Frost werns his traval­ lers against a Itcertaln coldness" .whIch can still be faIt from "an enormous Glaclerl That braced his feet against the Arctic Pole," an appropriate repre.entatl"e of nature's apperent Indlfferance to man, which, like the n.... "Panther Mounta'n," suggests the brute energy em­ bodied by the stag In liThe Most of It." Frost also states that one need not .Ind "the serfal ordeall Of being watched fra. forty cellar holesl As if by eye pairs out of forty firkins." The last line plays upon • covert r.ference to the forty thieves whom Morglan. surprised as they lurked in the oil Jars. In the poem, since the "thieves" are conce.led In cell.r holes rather than firkins, they serye 8S representatives of tho.e men who, by denying basic human value., have lost the "houses" which protected them from the wasteland of moral confusion. They ha.,e .1 lowed the wilderness to overrun their IndIvidual clearings; they have Joined the force. which oppose the man in search of ...ni"9; but, al Frost Indicate., the threat which they symbolize can be thwarted successfully. 36

The closing lines of the poem describe the discovery of the Gratl: The height of adventure Is the height Of country where two village cultures f.ded Into each other. Both of them are lost. And If you're 10lt enough to find yourself Iy nOW, pu11 In your Iadder road beb Ind you And put a I Ign up CLOSED to all but me. Then make yourself a t home. The on Iy fie Jd Now left's no bigger than a harness gall. First there'. the children's house of make believe, Some shattered dlshe, underneath a pine, The playthIngs In the playhouse of the children. weep for what little thlngl could make them glad. Then for the house that Is no more a house, But only a belilaced cellar hole, Now slowly clollng I.ke a dent in dough. Thi' we' no playhou.e but a house In e.rnest. Your destination .nd your destiny's A brook that was the water of the house, Cold al a spring as yet so ne.r Its source, Too lofty and original to rage. (we know the valley str.... that when aroused Will leave their tatters hung on b.rb and thorn.) , have kept hidden In the Instep .rch Of an old cedar at the waterside A broken drinking goblet like the Gr.'1 Under a spell 10 the wrong one. can't find It, So can't get saved, a. Saint Mark say, they mustn't. (I stole the goblet 'rom the children's playhouse.) He,'• • re your waters and your watering place. Drink and be whole aga'n beyond confusion. As Frost's Instructions, "pull In your ladder road" and "put • sign up CLOSED to all but me," make clear, the cl imb fr. the depths of confu· sion to the he'ght of limited understanding is one which each person must make for himself. The external journey symbolizes an Internal journey toward self-knowledge, which by definition is an Individual process of examination for which others, like the poet, can only sug· gelt general guidelines. The "fleld no bigger than a harness gal'." might be the soreness of spiritual need which remains in the traveler's 37 heart, or in his Innenmost self, once he has swept away the fragments of detail. It is at this point. 8. Frost remarks, that "you're lost enough to find yourself •••." The process through which one finally finds oneself assumes a certal n patter". FI rst. Frost efl rects the r••der to lithe chi ldren's house of make belleye," syaabollc of chi ldish aspi rations to order and to ciYlllzatlon, and next to the libel I laced cellar hole'f of a "house tn earne.t," representatlye, perhaps. of adult disillusionment with these same youthful Ideals. By telling the traveler to weep o~th for the "tittle thing'," like the broken dish, that were sufficient Inspir­ atlon(or the child's Imaginary house. and for the r.al, ruIned house of adulthood. Frost Is guiding him to the recoqnltlon both of the na­ ture and of the potential of the vatue. which he has 10lt in a pessi­ mIstic era. and of the corrosive effectl of this 101. upon human civ­ ilization. Tha fact that the Ideals upon which civilization Is founded are reflected In the childish i__glnation reinforce. the Implication

that they are Il1'trfnslc aspects .f hUllWtn nature which man has tempor­ arily lost sight of in the confusing mals of detail. like Iclentlflc data. that surrounds him In the modern world. Once the Iplritual journeyer hal reached this recognItion, Frost directs him to the Grall, so that he can drink from the brook that !twas tho water of the house." or so that. symbolically, he can re­ new his grasp upon those basic principle. whIch enable men to civilize the world In which they ltve. For Frost. this is each man'l "destination" 38 and "destIny"; it Is ·qofty and ortglnal," close to the "source" of all those qualitIes whIch men call human, and In tenfts 0' whIch they dIstinguish themselves from the wIlderness of bIologIcal necessIty.

LIke the use of the Grai I myth, the term "desUny" suggests that there Is a conn-Itctl .. n between the value. which Frost .fflrms, or the source of spIritual rebIrth to whIch he directs hIs re.der, and some divine or transcendent scheme. The ImplIcatIon Is echoed In another poem In which he agaIn uses the brook as a symbol, called "west-Running

Brook." The poetft Is written In the form of a dialogue between a young married couple, newly faced with the task of establIshIng and malnt.ln- In9 their own household, or clearIng In the wllderne,s. The wife de- clare. that as well 81 beIng marrIed to one another, they shall "both be married to the brook," ~nd later the husband camments upon a wave which" forced up by • submerged rock, pushes against the current of the brook: 'Speaking of contrarle., ... how the brook In that white wave runs counter to Itself. It Is from that In weter we were from Long,... .long. .before. . ..we .were. . ..'rom.any..creature... . . 'It Is this backward motion toward the source, Against the stream, that most we see ourselves In, The trIbute of the current to the source. It Is from thIs 'n nature we are from. It Is molt us.' The slIghtly playful tone that Frost assumes towards the Grall myth f n "01 rectiv.," al contrasted to Eliot's bl ttert y I ronle treatment of a related myth In ''The Welteland," corresponds to the relative optl- mlsm of Frost's conclusion. His poem, unlIke ElIot's, not only Indicates 39 that we llv. in an age of moral confusion, but also that men are stIlI capable of meintalnlng those conc.pts of yalue, 11k. dignity and love, upon which th.lr humanity depends. Tho characters in Eliot's poem

(the clerk and the typi.t, for ex.mple) reveal the author's beli.f th.t men have surr.nd.red to the absurdity of the wasteland In which they live, whi I. Frost .ddr..... "Di rectlyW' to his contemporarie. upon the assumption that the human .pirlt 15 capable of resisting the d.spalr which threatens man In an allen univer••• Frost's half-whimsical comparison of those men who have yielded to the wasteland to the forty thieves from The thOUSand and One Nights parodies such portraits of IIan degraded as Eliot pelnts in "The Waste­ laneflt or "Sweeney Among the Nightingale••" Sh"l1ar1y. Frost's paren­ thetical statement that hit "arall" has been stolen from the children's playhouse might be read a. an Implied criticism of the complex, eso­ teric veil. of .'luslon which writers like Eliot us. to clothe their modern myths. Frost', deliberate simplification of the Grall myth sug­ gests that since the values which he afflnms are inherent In mankind, as Indicated by th.lr appearance tn the child, they are to be discov­ .red by .tripplng away. rather than by compiling, deta'l.

'~tr.ct'v.1 recommends once more 8 return to the ¥alues repre­ .ented by that symbolic land over which the preacher In "The Black Cot­ tag_' would like to reign, a de.ert broken by seattered oas.s, dedi­ cated to those few. II_had, and bas'c "truth. we keep c_lng back and back to.n They are the truths upon which the ruined house. the "be'i­ taced e.llar hoI .... and the decay'ng cabin (the "'Iack Cottage") were 40 founded, and which men must reestablish In order to survive the .trug- gl. with the .ncroachlng wlld.rn••s 0' Ideological confusion. Among the value. e•••nt'a' to the clearing Is that of love, par- tlcularly the lov. between IIItn and woman upon which the preservation of the family d.pends, such as that sugg.sted by the aff.ctionat. dia- logu. In "West-Running Brook." In ttTwo Look at Two,II al In "For Onc.,

Th.n, Something." Frost d.scrlbel one of the rare Instanc•• in which nature I .... to remove h.r hOlt"e mask and offer for a brief moment some h'nt of meaning. n.. opening lines of the POM Introduc. the .pparent conflict betwe.n man and nature which charact.rlz•• the ....rn dilemma: Love and forgetting might have carried them A little further up the mountain.ld. WIth night so near. but not much further up. They must have halted soon In any Case With thoughts of the path back. how rough It wal With rock and washout,and unsafe In darknesi. When they were halted by a tumbled well With barbed-wire binding. They stood facing this, SpendIng what onward Impulse they stil' had In one lalt look the way they must not go. On up the f.lling path. where, If a Itone Or earthllide moved at night. It moved Itself; No footstep moved it. 'This', all,' they sighed. Despite the love which binds thea together, the young couple cannot go beyond a c.rtaln point in the darkening woods. But, as they are about to I.av., a doe appeer. which "se_ed to think thet two thus they were saf.," followed shortly by h.r mate, an "antlered buck," who remains for a moment equally unfrlghten.d. Frost's conclusion r••ds as follows: 41

Two had seen two, whichever side you spoke from. 'thIs ~ be all.' It W81 .11. StIlI they stood, A great wave from it 90ln9 over them, As If the earth In one unlooked-for favor Had made them certain earth returned their love. Like the mysterious whiteness in "For Once, Then, SOlHthlng,1I nature's apparent response in "Two look at Two" Is ambiguous. lut In spite of

Frost's characteristic lIAs I f ,I' the suggestion remains that there Is, pernaps, some higher order which verifies the value of h~n love. Frost again Implle. that there Is "something:'

Frost .fflrms the value of human love even more emphatically in the sonnet lithe Master Speed,lt which he addresses to lItwo," presumably to a hUINnd and wH., whose love he compares to an ideal "swIftness," which enables them to run against the rush of time. Unlike "Two Look at Two," the aff Irmat Ion whl ch "The Master Speed" makes Is too extra" vagant to be thoroughly co~lnclng tn the context of Frost's work. par- tlcularly poor Is the concluding line. The poem does, however, serve as an Indication of the Importance which Frost attaches to the concept of meritsl love:

No speed of wind or ~ter rUShing by But you have speed far greeter. You can climb Back up a stre.m of radiance to the sky, And back through history up the stre•• of time. And you were glyen this swiftness, not for haste Nor chlafly that you may go where you will, aut In the rush of everything to waste, That you may hava the power .f standing stilI-­ Off any stilI or moving thing you say. Two such as you wIth such a master speed Cannot be parted nor be swept away From one another once you are agreed That life Is only II~e forevenDOr. Together wing to wing and oar to oar.

In the face of the modern dll...., Frost turns to hope r~ther 42 than to despair, but he maintains an acute consciousness throughout the body of his poetry, of the limitations of mants control over both the internal and external forces of chaos which the wilderness repre- sents. The preservation of the clearing require, a constant effort since, In the event of death or despair, nature Immediately begins to eradicate all signs of order. Throughout his work Frost employs Images, such as the cellar hole, "closing like a dent in dough." depicting na- tural forces of decay engaged in the process of overrunning the clear- ing. "The Need of Being Versed in Country Things," which emphasizes the indifference of nature to the human values which the clearing re- presents, Is among F'r:>st's most refined antiromantic poems. It reads as follows: The house had gone to bring again To the midnight sky a sunset glow. Now the chimney wes .11 of the house that stood, L1ke a pistil after the petals go. The barn opposed across the way. That would have Joined the house 1n flame Had It been the will of the wind, was left To bear forsaken the place's name. No more It opened with all one end For teams that came by the stony road To drum on the floor wIth scurrying hoofs And brush the mow with the summer load. The birds that came to It through the air At broken windows flew out and In, Their murmur more like the sigh we sigh From too much dwelling on what has been. Vet for them the lilac renewed its leaf, And the aged elm, though touched with fire; And the dry pump flung up an awkward arm, And the fence post carried a strand of wire. 43

For them there was really nothIng sad. But though they rejoiced In the nest they kept. One had to be ver.ed In country things Not to believe the phoebes wept.

The content of the poem is obvIous. Nature. as repre.ented by the phoebes. 15 unconcerned with human losses. But the effectIveness of the statement dependl upon the subtle Irony which. from the t'rst line to the last. pervades the atmosphere of romant'c nostalgia. In the "rst stanza Frost employs Images similar to those used by the ro- mantic poets. Rather than s'.ply stating that the houle "burned." he playl upon the rOlNnt'c connotat'ons carried by phrases Itke "sunset

glOW" end "mldnlght sky." The ute of the term ·'sunset." like the CQIII-

pari son of the chimney to a "pfstll .fter the petals go." a ho'mpllel that the burnIng of the house Is a part of a natural procesl of change that is Indifferent to the human need for stability. In the second stanza he again use. a phrase with a marked roman­ tic flavor. "the will of the wind." In order to suggest 'ronlcally na- ture's hostil'ty to men. Her. he e.tabl'shes the barn as a symbol for the .en.e of lOIS which men assoc'.te with the destruct'.n of the house. The third stanza reinforces the feeling of nostalgIa wh'ch the empty barn evokes. foreshadowing the 'ntroductlon of the phoebes In the fourth. FrOlt's description of the birds. flying In and out of the "broken w'ndows" of the barn. and the tJlUrllurJng sounds like human sighs• • pltomize. the roment'c attitude towards nature a, .. force which re- sponds to human values. ThIs response he denies In the concluding stanzas. In the fifth stanza, Frost's juxtaposition of the lilac, the elm, the puMp, and the surviving strand of wlr. fence i.plles that the phoe­ be. are as unconcerned with h~n loss 8S thay are with distinctions between natur.l and man-made perches. Although the dry pump and the half-ruined fence cannot renew themsalve., as can the litac and the elm, theyara, like the barn, quite adequate for the birds' purposes, if not for human needs. Frost make. the implication explicit in the final stanza. De­ spite the assumptions of the romantic. the ruined barn with its nostal­ gic associations r.pre.enta'hothing sad" to the birds that nest there.

To be "versed In country things" Is to re.tile that birds do not weep, and that nature is indifferent when man suffers the lOIS of things of vatue to him. The 0" "phoebe," after the mythological Phoebe, or

Artemis, goddess of the MOOn, is approprlate to the context of tha

PGCM, 'l~~e it likewise indicate. man's tendency to assoc'ate human values with natural object.. Frost's use of the Indefinite pronoun "oneIl in the conclUding lines, like his us. of the Greek".. Phoeba, suggaltl that the poem not only COIIIIItInU upon the Romantic Mov..nt In particular, but also upon the romantic inclination charactarlstlc of lAan.

As _uch as he ..y s~pathlza with this romantic Inclination. Frost Insfsts that In tha face of tha ironic conflict between man and natura which markl our .ra, It is dOOMed to frustration. As his repe­ tition of "for them" (tha phoebes) in the first IIna. of tha lest two

Itanza. Implte., tha .anla of loss which tha poeM expra••e. ;s .11 the more tarrible because man must bear it alone. 45

In another subtle poem, "They Were Welcome to Their BelIef," Frost stresses the fact that even though he has establIshed his clear- ing, the Individual remaIns subject to the natural process of decay which InevItably leads to death. The poem reads as follows: Grief may have thought It was grief. Care may have thought It was care. They were welcome to their belief, The overlmportant pair. No, It took all the snows that clung To the low roof over his be~, Beginning when he was young, To Induce the one snow on his head. But whenever the roof came white The head In the dark below Was a shade less the color of night A shade more the color of snow. Grief may have thought It was grief. Care may have thought It was care. But neither one was the thief Of his raven color of hair. The IIthlef" Is obvIous ly time, to whom man remel ns subject de.pl te his "overimp ortant" attempts to attribute the effects of age to the force of his own emotions. Still, as the clause "it took all the snows" sug- gests, the roof which protected the aging man beneath--representative of the barriers which man constructs between himself and the wilderness --has served at least to slow the onslaught of nature; the protection whIch the house or clearing offers Is limited but useful. Frost depicts the threat of despair which the wIlderness of moral indifference constantly poses to man's spirit in a number of poems.

Among the best of these is tlDesert Places," which once again Illustrates the fact that the wIlderness Is ever ready to reclaim the clearing. 46

The poem reads:

Snow fal ling and night fal ling fast, oh, fast In a field I looked Into going pest, And the ground almost covered smooth In snow, But a few weeds and stubble showing last.

The woods around It have It--It Is theirs. All animals are smothered in their lairs. I am too absent-spIrited to count; Th. loneliness Includes me unawares. And lonely as It Is that lonallnel' Wfl1 be mora lonaly ere It will ba less-­ A blanker whltenesl of benIghted snow With no expression, nothfng to express. They cannot .car. me wIth thalr empty space. Between sters--on stars where no human race Is. I have I tin me so much nNrar home To scare myself wIth my own desart places.

The last lIne Is weakened by the colloquIalIsm "scare," but on the

Whole the poem Is successful. "Desert Places" plays upon the same correspondence between 1I0utertf and IIlnna," weather as that whIch Frost describes in ttTr•• at My Window," and which he uses repeatedly through-

out his poetry. As he Indicates In the fifth tiDe, the woods have re-

gained possession of the 'armer's stubble4 field, just as a sense of that meaninglessness which they symbolize appear. to dominate the poet's mfnd. FillIng with snow, the field functions as an objective correlative for an encroaching de.olatlon-·a sensation which Is en­

hanced by the use of repetition, accentuated by the unusual rhyme

scheme and by the rhythm. In the first line, for exemple, "Snow fal1- fng and night falling fast, oh, fast," the short al1lteratlve ltfll ''11-

lables contribute to the quick mo~ement. The constant repetition of 47 words, often wIthin a single line as above, contrIbute, an Impression of meaninglessness by repeating the same word or thought In lieu of a logical progre••lon 'rom Ide. to Ide.. The rhyme scheme, which em- ploys the .... perfect rh~ for three of the line' In .ach four-lin. ,tanza••xploits the r.petltlon of sounds to much the same .ffect. Although Frost aftl rAlS marl tal love a. one of the valu•••,s.n- tlal to the clearing, he r.cognlze, the corrosive effects of the mod-

.rn dll.... upon the relationship between husband and w~f.. In several poena, such as "Love and a Q.uest Ion," lithe Fear ," "The Hili WI f •••• "The InvestMent," and "The Thatch," the wilderness, or a figure emerg-

In~ frOil the wlldernetis, symbolhes the _nao_ which a hosti Ie unlv.rs. pre.ents to the ties of affect'on uniting the married couple. Frost makes this thatH .xpllclt In the Shakespearian ,onnet tithe Invostm.nt": Over back where they speak of life as staying ('You couldn't call It livIng, for It aln't'), Th.re was an old, old house renewed with paint, And In It a plano loudly playing. Out In the plowed ground In the cold a dlgg.r, Among unearthed potatoes standIng Itlll_ vas counting wlnt.r dlnn.rs, on. a hili, With half an ear to the plano's vIgor. All that pl8no and new paint back there, Was It ,ome mon.y sudd.nly come Into? Or 101M .xtravagane. young love had b••n to? Or old lov. on an 'mpul,. not to eer.--

Not to sink und.r being man and wlf. t But g.t some color and Music out of life? Th. opening phra,e, 'v.,.r back," .'tab) Ishes the wlld.rness set- tlng. Th. harshness of life In a barr.n lend, which I, made evident In the first two line., Is und.rscored by the refer.nce In the second 48 stanza to the "dlgg.r ••• counting winter dinners." Llk. the contrast between old and young love In the third stanza. the emphasis upon the poverty of lffe in the wilderness. symbolic of man's spiritual prlva- tlon In the modern world. accentuates the desperation which the con­ cluding couplet evinces.

'n tithe HI11 Wife." which consists of a group of five short poems, Frost trace. a young wife's progr.ss through Incr.aslng f.ar of the allen world in which she lives to Insanlty--or complete lurrender to the wildernesl of Indifference. He wrItes the flrlt poem In the group. entitled uLonellness.".s a dramatic monologue. The wife com- plains to her husband about the Isolation whIch they suffer on their lonely farm. declarIng that even the birds only appear frIendly. and are In reality concerned solely "wIth each other and themselvesl And their built or drlyen nests." In the second poem. "House fear." Frost descrlbes the young couple's fear that In their absence the wilderness might haye Invaded their home. He concludes: And preferring the out- to the tn-door night. 'Th.y I....ned to l.aye the house-door wide Until th.y had lit the lamp Inside.

Symbolically. the poem portrays the constant struggle with spiritual desolation which the lonely pair faces. The indoor night Is more to be reared since It symbolize. the prospect Of complete despsff. the surrender of one's humanity to the same moral IndIfference that char- acterlzes the world of nature. As long as the couple can still reaf- firm fa Ith In the va lues which enable them to mol t ntal n posse" Ion of 49 the house, or light the lamp which dispels the Inner darkne••• they can survIve.

The third poem, "The Smlle,lI I. another drasoatlc monologu., ag.ln wrltt.n from the wlfo'. poInt of view. She r....I. hor Incr.as-

Ing dread by reading Into a passIng traMp's ••lle a list of Ironic In- tentIon. whIch rey.al her own f••r. of tho poverty which she end hor husband shere, of their youthful Inoxperlence, and of approaching death.

As the concluding line of the poem Indicate., she assocIates the tramp with the Indifferent wilderness which Is at the basis of her concerns: UHe's watchIng frCIII the woN. a. like es not." In the fourth .... lithe Oft-Itepeated DrUII,u Frost describes a nIghtmare which frighten. the young wife, Involving a pIne tree which stands outside the couple'. bedroom, "Forever trying the window-latch." The dream not only reiterate. the woman'. fear of the allon wllderne.s which the tree repre.ents. but also Indicate. the .eparatlon which her

Increating terror ha, caused between her.el' and her husband. The final stanza of the ~ re.ds as follows: It nevor had b••n Inside the room And only olle of the two W.I .frald In an oft-repeated dream Of what the tree might do.

The lest poem In the group, "The Impuls••" descd be. that nt in which the wife fInally yields herself wholly to InsanIty. The poe. reads fn part: She r ••ted on a log and toss.d The freth chIps, With. long only to her.elf On her II PI. 50

And once she went to break a bough Of black alder. She strayed so far she scarcely heard When he called her-- And didn't answer--dldn't .peak·­ Or return. She stood, and then she ran and hid In the fem.

She runs from the cJearin9 in which her husband work., ignortng his call., and hides In thG wilderness--she gives up her hold on the values essentl.1 to her humanity, and surrenders to the absurdity of the unl- ver.e.

As Frost makes m~ni fest In such poems a' ItOe.ert Place.," and lithe HIli Wife," the bifrriers of va lue that preserve the clearing are, at best, limited and temporary. Man's sanity is precarious; his faith in the principle. upon whIch his humanIty depends Is continually chal· 'enged by the seemingly mechanIstic universe which he Inhabits. Through- out hi, poetry, but particularly In his poems on the subject of tabor,

Frost stre,.es the necessity of tho ~ctlye and unrelentIng exertion of the will In the struggle to maintain meaning. labor Is, for Frost, the cOtllblned physical and spiritual effort needed to repair the Internal and external ravages of chaos. Frost's affirmation of the values represented by the fanD or the cabin In the cleadng 16 reflected fn numerous poems which _pha­ size the importance of the active performance of the t.sk whIch keeps the wilderness at bay. Among the best of! Frost', labor poems .re "Two

Tramps In Mud Time" and "The Wood~Pf le.lt In HTwo Trmaps In Mud Tlme" Frost juxtapose. the pleasure of the taSk, splitting firewood, wIth the 51

need for Its performance in the uncertain .e.son of mud time when 1~ln-

te,n Is Ibn Iy playIng poSSUII." Scme of the best II nes In the po.- are those which describe the threat that nature pre.ents to man. and those whIch portray the satisfactIon that the woodcutter discovers In the

labor nece~sary to defend himself against It: ••• but don't forget The lurking frost In the .arth ben.ath That will steal forth after the sun is set And ,how on the water Its crystal teeth.

•• • ••••••••••• .. ••• iii •• You'd think I never had felt before The weIght of an ax-head poised aloft. The grl p on earth of outspread feet. The life of muscles rocking soft And smooth and moist In vernal heat. Frost ,ummarlzes hIs theme In the final stanza: But yield who will to their .eparatton. My object tn living i. to unite My avocation and .y vocation As my two eye, make one In "ght. Only where love and ne.d are one. And the work i' play for mortal Itakes. " the deed ever real 1y done For Heaven and the future's sakes. Frostts vocation. of course. Is that of poet, and these l'nes cnay also

be tnterpreted a. his comment upon his literary craft. Just a. the wood which he cuts Is intended to protect him against the cold of wtnter,

his poetRl are intended al a "lIlOIIlentary stay" against the confusion to which man Is subject in a unlvers. in whIch he can percetve no absolute

values. Thus the 'll~1 In term. of which Frost describe. the IIflgure a poeI'R _ke." Is related to the need which man feels to create some 18 order in 8 chaotic world. The play Is for "mortal stakes"..-the

18 "The Figure 8 Poem ...k..... Complete Poems. p. vi. 52 writing of poetry, like the woodcutter's labor. Is the poet's defense against despair.

"The Wood-Pile" Is set In 8 symbolic landscape that. like the

"samenen of the wood" in "The Demlurge's Laugh. 1I or the Itmonotony" of the wasteland In lithe Figure In the Doorway." presents a confusIng view: .•• all In lines Straight up and down of tall slim trees Too much alike to mark or name a place by. The poet. wandering through these woods. comes upon a long deserted cord of maple. which. suggestIng man'. need to create order from chaos.

Is IIcut and .pllt/ And plled--and measured. four by four by eight." The concluding line. of the poem, the last of which Is one of Frost's finest. read:

What held It though on one Iide was a tree Sti 11 growing. and on one a stake and prop, These latter about to fall. • thought that only Someone who lived in turning to fresh tasks Could so forget his handiwork on which He spent himself. the labor of his ax, And leave It there far from a useful fireplace To warm the frozen swamp as best ! t cou ld With the slow smokeless burning of decay. The feet that the woodsman cut and stacked the maple even though It was too far from any fireplace to be used Indicates that labor satisfies spiritual a5 well as physical wants. But. as the anonymous woodcutter IIwho lived In turning to fresh tasks" apparently recognized. the order which man create. Is ephemeral; nature's tree continue. to grow, but the man-made stake and prop are already about to fall. 53

Thus, the clearing In the wilderness represents Frost's affirma­ tion of man's ability to renew and to pre.erve hIs faith In those val­ ue, like dignity, integrity, and love which are at the origins of civ­ ilization. As he indicates In "Directive," Frost believes that the.e principle. are Intrinsic to humankind. and that the Individual can, by dint of rlgorou••elf-ex.-lnatlon. discover th.. within hIs own .pirit. Moreover, although he I. unable to perceive clearly any moral purpose In the universe, Frost suggests in .uch poem. a. "Directive."

"west-runnl ng Brook," "Two Look at Two," and 'IFor "bee, Then, Some­ thing," and ItSycacnore,H that the•• basic human values are In SC1118 way related to a meaningful, even if Indiscernible, supernatural scheme. Des,Ite such hints of transcendent significance, h..ever. his afflnaatlon I, highly qualIfied. The order which man creates Is lIm­ ited and eph..eral; it Is constantly subject to the Internal and exter­ nal foree, of decay whIch the surrounding wilderness repre.ents. For this rea.on, Fro.t repeatedly emphasize. the Importance of labor, the combined physical and spiritual effort whIch man mUlt continually ex­ ert in order to Impose upon the real, changing world of nature the or­ der and stability which his spirit requires. The clearing can be preserved, Nn can live, only by "turning to fresh task.... by repeat­ edly renewing the "momentary stay against confuslon.1t LIST OF WORKS CITED

Cox, James H. Robert Frost. Englewood Cliffs, N. J., 1962. ___' URobert Frost and the Edge of the Clearing," ylrglnia Quar­ terly !\eyiew, XXXV (Winter. 1959). 73-88.

Cox, Sidney. A Swinger of Birches: A Portrait of Robert Frost. New York, 1957. Frost, Robert. Complete 'oems of Robert Frost. New York, 1949. In the Clearing. New York, 1962.

Krutc::h, Joseph W. Thea Modern Tuper. New York, 1956.

Lynan, John F. The Pas~oral Art of Robert Frost. New Haven, 1960. Nltcht_, George. Human Values In the '§!try of Robert frost: A Study of a Poet's Conyictrons. Durham, 19 O.

Sergeant, Elizabeth S. Robert Frost: The Trlol by Existence. New york, 1960.