The Poetry of Robert Frost

Continued

What makes a poem a poem? Any group of words arranged to look like a poem creates a poem. It is that simple. There are no other rules. For instance, the following text does not qualify as a poem:

Once when the snow of the year was beginning to fall, we stopped by a mountain pasture to say, “Whose colt?” A little Morgan had one forefoot on the wall, the other curled at his breast. He dipped his head and snorted to us. And then we saw him bolt.

However, when the words are arranged like this, it is definitely poetic text:

Once when the snow of the year was beginning to fall,

We stopped by a mountain pasture to say, “Whose Colt?”

A little Morgan had one forefoot on the wall,

The other curled at his breast. He dipped his head

And snorted to us. And then we saw him bolt.

The words are exactly the same and are in the same order in both passages, but the second qualifies as a poem. We call the first arrangement a paragraph and the second we call verse and it is arranged in lines. Certain features of this text become apparent when it is arranged poetically. Notice how the first letter of each line is capitalized, whether it is the first word of a sentence or not. This is a publisher’s convention, but not all poets follow it. Some poets do not capitalize the first letter of each line.

If you look closely you will notice that some of the lines rhyme, for instance “fall and wall” and “Colt” and “bolt.” When studying poetry it is traditional to assign the letters of the alphabet to new rhyme sounds. Thus “fall” would be assigned the letter “A” and “Colt” would be assigned the letter “B.” The rhyme pattern for the five lines would then look like this [A-B-A-C-B-]. Can you guess which sound line 6 would rhyme with?

Here is line 6 of this poem:

We heard the miniature thunder where he fled,

The rhyme pattern is now [A-B-A C-B-C].

There are at least two reasons why some poets use rhyme. The first is that poetry is the oldest form of literary art and has existed longer than people have been literate. Rhyming lines are a pneumonic [memory] device. Have you ever wondered how singers can remember the lines to 20 or more songs during a concert performance? Rhyme plays an important role in helping them remember hundreds of lines in live performance.

The second reason is to make the words sound pleasing and musical. The technical term for this is euphony. There are lots of ways that words can be arranged to sound pleasing and musical, but rhyming the ends of lines is one of the most important.

Poetry which does not rhyme its lines and does not have a definite beat, or rhythm, is called free verse and is the most popular way to write poetry in our time. The beat, or rhythm, of poetry is called its meter. When critics asked Robert Frost why he continued to write poetry with meter and rhyme while most of his contemporaries wrote free verse, he said, “Writing poetry without meter is like playing tennis without a net.” Do you understand what Frost was saying?

The lines above are the opening lines to a poem by Frost called “Runaway.” If you are interested in this poem and want to see it in its entirety, the poem is on p. 397 in your literature text.

Let’s take a look at the poem by Frost you just wrote about:

Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To know that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice.

A good place to begin with poetry is to take a look at its structural features. A logical look would go something like this:

Note how many lines are in the poem. There are 9 lines in this poem.
Are the lines arranged in stanzas [verse paragraphs]? Here there is only one stanza.
Do the lines rhyme? This poem does contain rhyming lines. When assigning the letters of the alphabet we get the following: [A-B-A-A-B-C-B-C-B]. Even though the lines rhyme, there does not appear to be a pattern.
How many syllables are in each line? There are 8 syllables in lines 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. There are only four syllables in lines 2, 8 and 9.
Are the syllables in the lines arranged in any pattern? Yes. Every other syllable is stressed. We indicate that a syllable is stressed by placing an accent [‘] mark after it. This creates a kind of rhythm which you can emphasize. Try reading the first syllable of each line in a low voice and the second syllable in a high voice and keep that pattern through-out the line.

Our work on the poem so far makes it look like this:

Fire and Ice

Some say’ the world’ will end’ in fire,’ [A]

Some say’ in ice.’ [B]

From what’ I’ve tast’ed of’ desire’ [A]

I hold’ with those’ who fav’or fire.’ [A]

But if’ it had’ to per’ish twice,’ [B]

I think’ I know’ enough’ of hate’ [C]

To know’ that for’ destruc’tion ice’ [B]

Is al’so great’ [C]

And would’ suffice.’ [B]

It is important to note that there are other technical aspects to this poem which we will leave for the discussion of other poems. All these techniques are designed to make the language both pleasing, surprising and memorable. But meaning is important too. Below is just one way of looking at this poem:

The poet Robert Frost uses a surprising series of images to make a comment on human nature. His observations begin in the debate during his time, the 1920’s, about the fate of the solar system. If the sun cooled over time the earth would turn into an ice ball. If the sun suddenly heated up, the earth would catch fire and become a mini-sun. Which will it be, the scientists were arguing, death by freezing, or death by conflagration? Frost seems amused by this argument, and uses subtle humor to make observations about human beings, using the logic of this argument. From personal experience, the poet says, he’s tasted of desire and is inclined to agree with the scientists who see destruction by fire. Here desire may mean human passion and its ability to consume and destroy us. On the other hand, the poet has witnessed the depth to which hatred allows humans to sink. So, if the world were to perish twice, he somewhat humorlessly contends, hatred will do as well as passion to destroy a life, either a man’s or a planet’s.

Does any of this make sense to you? Remember, this is only one possible way of looking at these lines. Please re-read the poem and see if these ideas seem to be contained in the lines. Would you like to write about the poem again? What are your ideas now? You may add to, or edit, your previous interpretation.