Human Love and Struggle in the Poetry of Robert Frost
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Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Master's Theses Theses and Dissertations 1958 Human Love and Struggle in the Poetry of Robert Frost John T. Trahey Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Trahey, John T., "Human Love and Struggle in the Poetry of Robert Frost" (1958). Master's Theses. 1716. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses/1716 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 1958 John T. Trahey HUMAN LOVE AND STRUGGLE III THE POETRY OF ROBERT FROB! A !heeis Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Loyola 'Univera1 ty in Partial Ful.t:il.ment of the Bequirements for the Degree of Master of A:r'U LIJ"I John 'l'bornae Trahey, 8 • .1. was born in Chicago, Dl.inois, .1ul\v 27. 1933. Be graduated f:raa St. Leo's Graunar Sehoo1, Chicago, Illinois, June, 1947. and tr<.lIl st. Ignatius High School, Chicago, June, 1951. hn, he entered Milford lfov:l.t1ate or the Society ot Ie.. in HUford, Ohio. During his four years at Hil.ford, 19S1-1955, he was enrolled in t.he liberal. arts prograa of the Miltord din.ion of IaT.1er trni.'Versity, Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1955, be entered the Jesuit Ph1losophate at. West Baden College, Wen Baden Springs, Indiana. Since West Baden 18 ·atfiliated nth Loyola University, Ch:i.cago, Illinois, be graduated f'roa Loyola in 1956 with the degree of BaehelDr of Arta. Be began hie graduate .studies at Loyola Umwrai1:iy in the summer of 19;6. Chapter Page I. IN'l'RODUOTION A. Pro.t1 s complexi~ ..................................... 1 B. Beeurmnt tb.emes ....................................... S O. A possible ke7 to the poet'. me.sage ••••••••••••••••••• 1 D. Procedure •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 8 II. HUMAN STRUGGLE IN THE POETRY OF ROBERT FROST A. iroat.t S !aith in hllJllaD dignity"......... u n ..................... 12 B. Mant" superiority to an:tmala and natu.re ............... 12 C. Naturets oppo.ition to man ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 16 D. S;mbols ot oppo.ition•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 18 E. '.i.ite nature ot individual struggle •••••••••••••••••.••••• 20 1. !be individual ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• n 2. StrIlggle as change ................................. 22 3. fa1l.ure. in the struggle ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 2h F. Man'. adveraariea in the struggle••.•••••••••••••••••••• 26 1. struggle with other men •••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 21 a. '!'heir peran:iasion to ev.11 ••••••••••••••••••••••• 27 b. 'l'heir science •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 28 c. Their pbi.l.osopby ............................... 30 d. Their religion................................. 31 2. Struggle w1th1n ............. ~ ....................... ,. a. Neoe5sity for solitude................. "' ............. b. Doubt •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 3'34 c. Independence and self-reliance ••••••••••••••••• 3S G. 1be value of the struggle •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• )6 1. God'. part in life ....................................... ,$ 2. Qnpbasis on the here and now ••••••••••••••••••••••• J9 B. S,Jmbols of the struggle •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 40 I. Frost's development •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 42 III. H'OHAN LOVE IN THE POETRY OF ROBERT FROST A. The relation o£ love to struggle ••••••••••••••••••••••• 45 B. ~ meaning of love •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 47 C. The necessity of love .................................... 48 D. Conjugal 1<nA!t •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 49 E. Love far children...................................... 57 F. to.. for mother •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• S8 iv v o. Love for God.......................................... 59 H. Love for others....................................... 60 I. Fro8tt s ~ of saying ft.............................. 64 J. Life w:i.thout love........................................... 66 K. Love a. the better half of the theme.................. 68 IV. lIUMAlJ LOVE AND S!'ntJr,oLE IN ROBERT PROST'S "STOppnnBIWOOI8 ON A SNO\.'Y EVENIl'll" A. The ordinar;y explicat.ion.............................. 70 B. The poem in the light of love and .truggle............ 7S o. 1'he possible implied meanings......................... 81 A. An explanation of the poet'a e:xperience............... 83 B. Symbolic meaning through 10_ and stn1ggle....... ..... 86 O. Other possible, but lea. proba'bla# interpretation..... 88 VI. SUMMAR!' A. !be proble•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• '. ••• •••••• B. liuIIJan struggle........................................ 9.94 o. Ih1man loft....... " ................., ............... '................. 96 D. "stopp:tng by Wooda on a Sncw.r Evemn€f................... 97 i. fIJIend1ng wallA •• ., ••••• It It. "' •••• It .'..... OIl... ...... ••••• ..... .•• 97 .,. The The.i.a' value to the readex' ot Frost.. ......... ••• 98 BIBLIOGRAPHY ••••••••••• It •••• It •• It ......... It • It. It '•• ' ••••• It It ............. It • 99 CHAPTER I AN INTRODUCTION The purpose of this thesis is to study one of the basic themes in the poetry of Robert Frost. The theme is expressed by Robert Frost's refiections on human love and on life's struggle. Once clearly understood, this love struggle concept sheds :new light on Frost's poetry and richly rewards the care.ful reader of his poems. The present thesis proposes to an.alJrze this theme according to the following :method: first, Frost's ooncept ot human struggle will be studied} seoond, his concept of human 10Te) tJdrd, how an analysis of these two oomplementary concepts in his poetry affords a deeper appreoiation ot two of Frost's poems, nStopping by \o'ioods on a. Snowy Evening" and "Mending Wall. The reason for examining this love-struggle theme.. inst.ead of some other basic theme, is that Frost i! ~ ! simple~. Even though some critics have aocused him of Simplicity, the more COOlmOn accusation is that he writes overly complex and unintelligib~ ambiguous poetry. Me accusation is 1 made by those whom Frost calls tithe people who a.na.l.,vze poems.1f C<:mtple:x:l.ty', however, is not a fault. One friendly critio, Ibnald A. Stauf'fer, insta.nees lnObert Lee boat, quoted by George Adams a.nd Frank: Neelon, "Robert Frost. Poet tor a Jubilee," b Boston College Stylus, LXX (May 1957), 53. 1 2 two lines of Frost's poem "Sceptic" as an example of the way a great poet con denses much meaning into fev words. The lines read, "I don't believe what makes you red in the face! Is after explosion going away so fast. ,,2 Staulter says in praise of these lines, "To put into tw lines a whole astronomical theory of the present state of the universe, including the supporting data dependent upon the wave-lengths of light, and then • • • del\Y ing the theory, is perhaps as much metaphysical complexity as is good for half of arty quatrain. Yet Frost. is accused of simplicity.'" Staulfer thinks that the number of astronomical facts that Robert Frost has telescoped into t1llO lines of poetry indicates the power-packed na.ture of Prostfs words. And 1Ihile clensity-ot-fact is not the only factor that contributes to the complexity of Frost's poetry, it does indicate just how much meaning Frost can inject into his words, it indicates, too, that an appreciation of one of Frost's recurrent themes may be the reader.s key to the poet's deeper message. Quite ob'viously, Frost is not a s:tmple poet - as the rest of this thesis shall make clear. If one is going to seek Frost's meani.ng - or at least a meaning that oould be Frost's - in his poetry, one might begin by finding out the poet's definition of poetr,v. In other words, does Frost's own idea of the nature of poetry allow for the communication of the author's complex and deeper 2rrost, CO!!Plete Poems !?! Robertr Frost (New York, 1949), p. 549. 'Donald A. Stauffer, tI'lhe New Iqrica of Robert Frost," 1'he Atlantio Mon!:h:ll, CLXXX (October 1947), ll5-116. - .. meanings? Frost believes that good poetry is always a "clarifica.tion of 1ife.,,4 From this "definition" it may be interred: if good poetry is a "clarifica.tion of life," Frost's good poetry m.ay well be expected to be as deep as his own understanding of life. The fact is, as Peter Viereck: says, that "on first reading, Frost seems easier than he really :ts." It is also true that "Frost's conventionality of form makes many young poets and readers think his is also a conventionality of meaning. On the contrary, he is one of the most original writers of our time.tlS The result of the ea8l"-going, chatty, and commonplace tone ill Frost.s poetry, as Professor James C. Southworth says, is that the poet's clarification ot life and his deeper meaning remain hidden from the casual reader. Such a reader either misses the 6 reportorial and philosophical. qualities of the poems, or he is puzzled. 'tY~hat does Frost mean?" nevertheless, is a frequent question of those who are more than casual readers of his work. ltrost so tires of hearing it that he practically refuses to answer it. He says, "Such presumption needs to be twinkled at and baffled. The answer must be, 'If I had wanted you to know, 7 I should have told you in the 'poem. t n This statement should not be taken to 4Frost