Pages

Showing posts with label American Literature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label American Literature. Show all posts

Thursday, September 17, 2015

The Features of Early American Literature (Colonial American Literature)



Early American Literature writing that emerged from the original U.S colonies during the period from 1607 to the late 1700. It was largely influenced by British writers and was created to inform people about colonial life, religious disputes and settlement issues. Many of characteristics of early American literature can be found in the poems, journals, letters, narratives, histories and teaching material written by settlers, religious figures and historical icons of the period. American Literature includes the writings of Marry Rowlandson, William Bradford, Anne Bradstreet and John Winthrop.
 


American Literature had been affected from many ways; each way makes a different in America’s literature. The three characteristics of American Literature include – plot of decline, indifferent of nature, 3rd person omniscient reaction to romanticism and surrealism. 
 


Firstly, American Literature reflects beliefs and traditions that come from the nation’s frontier days. The pioneer ideals of self-reliance and independence appear again and again in American writings. American authors have great respect for the value and importance of the individual. They tend to reject authority and to emphasize democracy and the equality of people. They often celebrate nature and a sense of boundless space.
Second, American writers have always had a strong tendency to break with literary tradition and to strike out their own directions. Writers of other countries seem to absorb their national literary traditions. But many American authors have rejected the old in order to create something new.
 


Thirdly, a lively streak of humor runs thorough American literature from earliest times to present. In many cases a dash of salty humor saves serious theme from becoming too sentimental. American humor tends to be exaggerated rather than subtle. It reflects the people’s ability to laugh at themselves even during the most difficult times.

Monday, October 27, 2014

Cotton Mather’s Accounts of the Trial of Bridget Bishop in 'The Wonders of the Invisible World'



Cotton Mather was a prominent minister in Boston, Massachusetts, who became closely involved in the Salem witch trials. Although he was not a trial judge, he worked in conjunction with his father, Increase Mather , to root out witches who were doing the work of the devil in New England. Cotton Mather thought that witches were not possessed by spirits, but that they were agents of the devil. Modern historians have been mystified by Cotton Mather: although he was one of the foremost American intellectuals and scientists of the time, he was capable of deep superstition, even ignorance, in religious matters. According to Mather, witches had been sent as divine judgment against a sinful people. Therefore, witches—or sin—had to be destroyed before the Puritans could fulfill their destiny as "a people of God" in America ("once the Devil's territories").

In 1693 Mather wrote The Wonders of the Invisible World, in which he defended the Salem trials in lofty theological (religious) terms, with biblical references to support his view of the Puritan mission in the New World. According to Mather, the devil was trying "all sorts of methods to overturn this poor plantation, the Puritan colony." Yet Mather saw this as a special challenge: once the Puritans were rid of the witches in their midst (had trodden "all the vultures of Hell" under their feet), God would bless them with eternal happiness ("halcyon days").
 


From Cotton Mather’s The Wonders of the Invisible World we find a vivid picture of the witch trials.  But as we go through his sermons , we realize that Cotton Mather himself was not wholly convinced regarding the evidences that were brought against the so-called witches. Although Cotton's words describe, and to some degree justify the trials and deaths in Salem that year, the book is anything but resolved with regards to Mather's true feelings about the trials. Cotton writes of the trials of accused witches such as Bridget Bishop saying there was "little occasion to prove witchcraft, it being evident and notorious to all beholders".

Here follows the description of the witch trials that we find in Cotton Mather’s The Wonders of the Invisible World.

 Bridget Bishop, one of the so-called witches, was accused of bewitching of several persons in the Salem village. There were several persons, who had long undergone many kinds of miseries and generally ascribed unto an horrible Witchcraft. Nobody felt the necessity to prove the witchcraft as it was already evident to all who were present there. The people, who had been previously afflicted by Bridget Bishop, brought many evidences of witchcraft against her.  Several inhabitants of Salem testified that the Shape of Bridget Bishop did oftentimes very grievously pinch them, choke them, bite them, and afflict them; urging them to write their names in a Book, which the said Specter called, Ours. One of them did further testify, that it was the Shape of Bridget Bishop, with another, which one Day took her from her Wheel, and carrying her to the River side, threatened there to Drown her, if she did not Sign to the Book mentioned: which yet she refused. 

Other bewitched persons also gave different testimonies before the Magistrates. They said that they had been extremely tortured Bridget Bishop.  According to them, if she did cast her eyes on them, they were presently struck down. But when she lay their hands on the fainted persons, they would immediately revive; but not upon the touch of any ones else. Moreover, upon some special actions of her Body, as the shaking of her head, or the turning of her eyes, they presently and painfully fell into the like postures. 

There was Testimony likewise brought in, that a man striking once at the place, where a Bewitched person said, the Shape of this Bishop stood, the Bewitched cried out, that he had Tore her Coat, in the place then particularly specified; and the Womans Coat was found to be Torn in that very place.
Another woman named Hobbs, who had confessed her being a Witch, now testified that this Bishop tempted her to Sign the Book again, and to deny what she had confessed. She affirmed that it was the Shape of Bishop, which whipped her with Iron Rods, to compel her. And she affirmed that this Bishop was at a General Meeting of the Witches, in a Field at Salem-Village, and there partook of a Diabolical Sacrament in Bread and Wine.

John Cook, another victim, testified that about five or six years ago, one morning, about Sun-Rise, he was in his chamber assaulted by the shape of Bishop. In that morning Bishop looked on him, grinned at him, and very much hurt him with a blow on the side of the head and that on the same day, about Noon, the same shape walked in the room where he was, and an apple strangely flew out of his hand, into the lap of his mother, six or eight foot from him.


Samuel Gray, another victim of Bishop, testified that about fourteen years ago he was disturbed by Bishop during the nighttime. On a Night Bishop visited him and terrified his sleeping child. John Bly and his wife, a couple of Salem village, testified that he bought a sow of Edward Bishop, the Husband of the prisoner; and was to pay the price agreed, unto another person. This Prisoner being Angry that she was thus hindered from fingering the money, Quarreled with Bly. Soon after which, the Sow was taken with strange Fits, Jumping, Leaping, and knocking her head against the Fence; she seemed Blind and Deaf, and would neither eat nor be sucked. Whereupon a neighbor said, she believed the Creature was Over-Looked; and sundry other circumstances concurred, which made the Deponents Believe that Bishop had Bewitched it.
Richard Coman , another victim, testified that eight years ago, as he lay awake in his bed, with a Light Burning in the Room, he was annoyed with the apparition of this Bishop, and of two more that were strangers to him, who came and oppressed him so, that he could neither stir himself, nor wake any one else, and that he was the night after molested again in the like manner. He also said that Bishop took him by the Throat, and pulled him almost out of the Bed. 

In the similar fashion, many other victims including Samuel Shattock, John Louder, William Stacy, John Bly and William Bly who also testified Bishop’s witchcrafts and accused her as a witch. The arguments put forward by the so-called victims seem to be fictitious and groundless to the modern readers.  But to the puritans, who strongly believed in the existence of the witches, these evidences were absolutely true.

The Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692 represent a cruel part of New England history. Twenty people were killed after they were accused of being witches or wizards. Dozens were imprisoned. One of the key figures today around the trials is Cotton Mather. Although he was not directly involved in accusing or judging the people, he wrote a book about the trials, called The Wonders of the Invisible World. In this book, he listed the different indicators about how to discover someone practicing witchcraft. This essay will concern Cotton Mather’s arguments concerning witchcraft, their origin, and his theories about their treatment. The trials in Salem will play an essential part, because the practices during the trials show how witchcraft was proved then, regardless of the guilt of the accused. It was impossible for an accused person to escape punishment in Salem and Mather’s and his colleagues arguments served as additional justification for killing innocent people in Salem.

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Roger Chillingworth and Hester Prynne Relationship in Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'The Scarlet Letter '

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, little Pearl assesses Roger Chillingworth as a black man. She calls him the Black Man who has got hold of minister and who may catch Hester. Undoubtedly Pearl is right. The primary and deadly evil of Roger Chillingworth has evil effects on the other three characters.

Roger Chillingworth married Hester into an unnatural and "pseudo" relationship. He did not love her and she did not love him. He married a wife a generation younger than he. Hester's unhappiness, due to a mismatched matrimony, leads her to become an adulteress. Chillingworth makes Hester to be unhappy. Her initial sadness, along with the three year absence of her husband, resulted in adultery. After his discovery, "Chillingworth moves closer to the scaffold and imperiously bids her to name the father of her child" (Martin 113). Chillingworth repressed his instinctive emotional response to the situation. He was disappointed that his hope of gaining his wife's affection upon arrival was destroyed and he hated the man who had gained that affection.

Chillingworth’s indifference to Hester is responsible for the birth of the illegitimate child, Pearl. The rigid Puritan society doesn’t welcome her. Usually a child is treated as an angel. But instead of it, she becomes the symbol of a sin. She has to face some uncommon questions like who is her father, from where she comes. Other children don’t play with her. She has no place in gentleman’s society. No one welcome them. Instead of love there is agony and abhorrence in everyone’s eye. Hostile environment surrounds her. Moreover Chillingworth reveals as the threat to her mother’s life which makes Pearl more unsecured. So, Chillingworth is the devil in Pearl’s life.


Chillingworth begins to suspect that Dimmesdale is Pearl's father when Reverend Wilson and Governor Billingham are trying to take Pearl away from Hester. Dimmesdale gives an eloquent representation for Hester, and Chillingworth says "You speak, my friend, with a strange earnestness" (1217). It is with this suspicion that Chillingworth begins to show "special interest" in Dimmesdale.

When Chillingworth first appears in the community he is well received. The town needs a doctor and the members of the town feel that it is an act of God that he arrives when Reverend Dimmesdale is becoming ill. The fact that Chillingworth shows a special interest in Dimmesdale helps his acceptance in the community, but the community did not know his intentions.

Chillingworth's quest is to find out if his suspicion is, in fact, reality. In order to find this out, he must get closer to Dimmesdale: "The mysterious illness of Dimmesdale--mysterious to the town-- is something he says he can treat, and so he becomes the minister's physician; he even lives with him" (Doren 150). While living together, Chillingworth constantly digs for Dimmesdale to release his secret, but he will not reveal it, and his condition becomes worse. Finally, Chillingworth catches Dimmesdale sleeping and thrust aside the vestment to discover the letter "A" upon his chest.

With no doubt in Chillingworth's mind about Dimmesdale's relation to Pearl, his torment toward him increases. Chillingworth is now in complete control of Dimmesdale, whose health is deteriorating.

Hester notices the deterioration of Dimmesdale's health, and she thinks that her faithfulness, in keeping Chillingworth's identity a secret, is to blame. When she goes to Chillingworth and speaks to him about revealing his identity, he neither condones nor condemns her decision. While listening to the old man, she noticed how much he had changed over the past seven years.

“Roger Chillingworth was a striking evidence of man's faculty of transforming himself into a devil.”

Hester finally tells Dimmesdale about Chillingworth's true identity. This new knowledge does not free Dimmesdale of Chillingworth's control. Constantly spying on the minister’s movements and on those of Hester, he has come to know of their plans to flee from Bosto by ship, and he succeeds in thwarting this plan. But he need not have taken the trouble of doing so because the minister has in the meanwhile made up his mind to make a public confession of his guilt. When he tries to restrain the minister from making his intended confession, it is certainly not for a good that he means towards the priest but to prevent him from slipping from his hands. Eventually when the minister has made his confession, Chillingworth says to him more than once, “thou hast escaped me! Thou hast escaped me!” There is no mercy in Chillingworth's heart even at this stage.

Ultimately, Chillingworth represents true evil who affects the other three characters. He is interested in revenge, not justice, and he seeks the deliberate destruction of others rather than a redress of wrongs. His desire to hurt others stands in contrast to Hester and Dimmesdale’s sin, which had love, not hate, as its intent.

Monday, December 2, 2013

Comparative Study between Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby are the two central characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. The plot of The Great Gatsby revolves around Daisy Buchanan's relationship with Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby. Tom and Gatsby both are very different in the ways they love Daisy. However, they demonstrate to be similar as they both want Daisy to be their very own. Both Tom and Gatsby share many similarities while having even a greater amount of differences.

Some of the similarities between Tom and Gatsby include being wealthy, wanting Daisy to be their own, and having hostile feelings towards one another. Both Gatsby and Tom strive to be financially successful. Both Gatsby and Tom find their high status in society important. Tom went to Yale and shows off with expensive sports cars. Gatsby shows his need for wealth when he quits his janitorial job because of his humiliation and goes into organized crime.

Both of these characters are also similar as they want Daisy to be their own. Gatsby strives for Daisy's affection and even uses criminal means to try to reach a wealth that will make him desirable. He loves her so much that he does not mind taking the blame for her, when she kills Myrtle Wilson with his car. Tom uses his great wealth and loud personality to keep Daisy interested in him. Their hostility and dislike for one another demonstrates another similarity that they share. Tom and Gatsby get in an argument at the Plaza Hotel and show their dislike for one another. They both bring up each other's faults and reveal them to their surrounding friends. They also insult one another. For example, Tom yells "I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr. Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife."(Fitzgerald 137) Many similarities are present in The Great Gatsby between Tom and Gatsby.

Although Tom and Gatsby share many similarities, Tom differs from Gatsby in many ways. First, Tom's main attributes consist of being a strong athlete and having a brute personality. Also, he lives in East Egg which contains people that have old money. He attended Yale and never had to do much work when he was younger due to this wealth. He shows his money off by buying extravagant things for himself to show off to others. He is a cold-hearted, shallow man who doesn't really care about what happens to others. Tom's careless nature gets illustrated when he "Smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into [his] money." (Fitzgerald 187-188) He likes Daisy not for true love but rather for a possession-type relationship. He cheats on her and is proud of that and doesn't strive for her love because he knows his wealth will keep her with him. When with Daisy, he rarely acts romantic as he always is preoccupied with his greed. His realistic approach to life causes him to be rarely disappointed. As a reader can see, Tom has his own set of unique characteristics differing from those of Gatsby.

Tom is crude; Gatsby is more refined.  Though Tom has grown up with money, he is not refined nor is he gracious.  Gatsby grew up with virtually nothing; however, though he is still rather socially inept and lacking in some niceties, he strives to be a courteous host and generally wants to please those around him.
Tom is overpowering; Gatsby is more reserved.  Tom is a large man (with a voice that doesn't match his physical presence, by the way) and uses his presence to intimidate.  Daisy calls him a brute and his mistress calls him "hulking" enough times to get a punch in the nose.  Gatsby, on the other hand, is barely recognized at his own parties.  He's shy and rather reclusive, and he is not an imposing presence--even when he wants to be, as in his confrontation with Tom in the hotel.

Gatsby has a passionate and kind personality. For example, he lets people he has never meet before attend parties at his house. Gatsby lives in west egg which contains people who have new money. He came from a poor family, "his parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people," (Fitzgerald 104) from North Dakota and struggled with obtaining enough money to make it through college. He is a loyal and good-hearted man who loves Daisy and really wants her true love. He is willing to do whatever it takes to win her love. Her love becomes one of the prime reasons he desires to be rich. Gatsby considers Daisy so precious to him that she often gets referred to as the Holy Grail. He tries to win her by having "committed himself to the following of a grail" (Fitzgerald 156) and only loving her. However, Daisy cares solely about net-wealth and therefore, chooses Tom. Throughout the novel, Gatsby shows how he is a romantic dreamer by always dreaming of Daisy truly falling for him. His unrealistic approach to life causes him to be often disappointed. While speaking to Daisy, Gatsby once cried, '"Can't repeat the past?'... 'Why of course you can!'" (Fitzgerald 116). This shows his unrealistic attitude as the circumstances of Daisy's and his relationship has changed and will never be like it once was. For example, he believes that he actually might be able to win her love when he really as no chance with her. Gatsby differs from Tom in many ways.

Tom has no purpose or direction in life other than to enjoy being rich and self-indulgent; Gatsby cares little for himself and is single-minded in his goal to win back the only woman he ever loved.


Both, Gatsby and Tom share ways that they are both alike and quite a lot ways they are different. These differences led to their final fight which leads to the downfall of Gatsby's life dream. This demonstrates how differences between one another can lead to negative cosequences.

Criticism of the the Jazz Age in 'The Great Gatsby' by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The book 'The Great Gatsby' by F. Scott Fitzgerald was an 'icon of its time.' It is the exemplary novel of the Jazz Age.  The book discusses topics that were important, controversial and interesting back in 1920's America. The novel is 'an exploration of the American Dream as it exists in a corrupt period of history.' The main themes in the book are the decay of morals and values and the frustration of a 'modern' society. The Great Gatsby describes the decay of the American Dream and the want for money and materialism. The Great Gatsby is a novel about what happened to the American dream in the 1920s, a period when the old values that gave substance to the dream had been corrupted by the vulgar pursuit of wealth. The characters are Midwesterners who have come East in pursuit of this new dream of money, fame, success, glamour, and excitement.
 
The 1920's were a time of corruption and the degradation of moral values for the United States and many other countries. World War I had just ended and people were reveling in the materialism that came with the end of it, new mass produced commodities such as motor cars and radios were filling people's driveways and houses, money was more accessible (before the Great Depression). Cars were becoming a social symbol in the 1920s as we can see with Gatsby's five cars, one of which he gives to Nick and one of which kills Myrtle Wilson later on in the novel. Herbert Hoover (an American President) said in 1925 "We will root out poverty and put two cars in every garage."
 

The parties that Gatsby held every week in the summer were a symbol of the carelessness of the time. Gatsby would hide in the house while the 'guests', most of whom were not even invited, would party, eat and drink until the early hours of the morning without even meeting the guest or even knowing who he was. People would turn up just to be seen or reported in the local newspapers "In his blue garden people came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne." This shows the carelessness of the guests. Another quote about the parties refers to the way the guests devour the endless supply of food and never give a thought as to who gave it to them. "Every Friday five crates of oranges and Lemons arrived from a fruiterer. In New York- Every Monday these same oranges and lemons left his backdoor in a pyramid of pulpless halves." This is also a symbol; it relates the 'pulpless halves' to the rather 'empty' guests, soulless people obsessed by image and wealth, a corruption of the American Dream.
 
Fitzgerald’s negative views of society are also portrayed through his depiction of certain guests at Gatsby’s parties. The symbol of the two women dressed identically in yellow at Gatsby’s party represent the values of the people of the 20s. The two women meet Jordan and Nick at Gatsby’s party and are completely self-involved. These women are only concerned with what happens to them and the fun that they have at the parties and don’t even inquire the names of Jordan and Nick who they are so openly speaking with. "Do you come to these parties often? inquired Jordan of the girl beside her. The last one was the one I met you at, answered the girl in an alert, confident voice. She turned to her companion: Wasn’t it for you Lucille? It was for Lucille too. I like to come, Lucille said I never care what I do, so I always have a good time."
 
Another sign of the fall of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby is the way Gatsby makes his money. Gatsby gets his fortune through the illegal sale of alcohol ('bootlegging'). The sale of alcohol was prohibited in the United States in the 1920s. Gatsby came from the western United States where there was 'old money.' There he met Dan Cody who taught him how to 'bootleg.' As Gatsby became richer he moved to West Egg in New York. Gatsby's house is a rather artificial place, the house was originally built to impress Daisy with his so-called wealth, and this is a sign of a corrupt way of 'winning' love through money and wealth. Gatsby's house is furnished well with old looking ornaments and (probably) second hand antiques, Gatsby's house also has a library which is full of 'uncut' literature. The conversation between Jordan and an unnamed man at one of Gatsby's parties talks about the books: "Absolutely real - have real pages and everything. I'd thought they'd be a nice durable cardboard." These books and antiques are just Gatsby's way of showing off his wealth to others, however Gatsby doesn't really care for materialism, we can tell this because his bedroom, the only room he really ever uses, is empty compared to the rest of the house. Gatsby's love life is also a sign of declining morals, and also a sign of further corruption of the American Dream. Daisy has an affair with Gatsby; Gatsby then gets concerned that Daisy does not tell Tom about her affair with him in chapter six. Eventually Daisy tells Tom about her affair with Jay Gatsby.

The fall of the American Dream and corruption is also evident in the position and treatment of children in the story, Daisy and Tom's daughter, Pammy, is treated as an object to show off rather than a child to love. "The child, relinquished by the nurse, rushed across the room and rooted shyly into her mother's dress." The child does not know her mother very well and is still very shy to go near her. Gatsby had never really known of the existence of Daisy's child, as Daisy was probably afraid to tell him about her. "Afterward he kept looking at the child in surprise. I don't think he had ever really believed it it's existence before." The word it instead of her also denotes the child's position as nil. Daisy uses the child as a show item: "I got dressed before luncheon" said the child, turning eagerly towards Daisy. "That's because your mother wanted to show you off" replies Daisy. 

When the child speaks to Daisy, Daisy never answers or replies to her. Daisy always changes the subject as if she doesn't even notice the child is there. For example, when the girl comments Jordan's dress, Daisy ignores her and asks her what she thinks about her friends: "Aunt Jordan's got on a white dress too" (said the child). "How do you like mother's friends?" (Replies Daisy). Also: "Where's daddy?" (Said the child) "She doesn't look like her father" explained Daisy. 'Daddy' (Tom) is also never around, he was not there when his child was born. Daisy thinks that Tom is 'brutish' and she has never really liked him.

Thus, the book 'The Great Gatsby' is a criticism of the American Jazz Age.

Puritan Elements in Robert Frost's Poetry


Though Frost was at no time a firm member of any Christian sect, he was significantly influenced by puritanism. Robert Frost’s poetry, which is based on the land of pilgrims fathers, is inspired by puritanism. During the early seventeenth century a band of puritans immigrated to the New England;America from Europe. During the 1630s and 1640s the puritans built a strong stance in the New England. Apart from the setting, the puritan beliefs also form the themes of most of Frost’s poems. One of the central beliefs of puritanism is the labour or hard work. Puritans do not believe in the distinction between gentleman and laymen or landlords and slaves. To them nobody is gentleman as Adam delved the ground  and Eve span the wheels. This hard workong nature is a characteristic of Frost’s poems. Moreover, like all puritan literature, Frost’s poems are also simple and unornamented. He also uses symbols in his writings like a typical puritan writer. 

Robert Lee Frost,the folk philosopher,is the most cherished nature poet of  New England,the puritan land. He writes about the objects ,the incidents ,the events and the characters of New England. But Frost treats all these elemts of nature differently from the English romantics. He takes the familiar objects as the subjet matters of his poetry but makes them highly suggestive and symbolic to represent some universal wisdom.Thus,though he is forever linked to the stone-pocked hills and woods of New England, he treated some thems that have universal appeal.

Puritan life style

Frost uses New England as a recurring setting throughout his work. New England is a place where the European puritan immigrants settled. When they came, most of them opted for Adam’s profession-cultivation. Thus, most of them became farmers. Frost closely observed the life of the farmers of New England and depicted their life in his poetry.  Frost found inspiration in his day-to-day experiences, basing “Mending Wall,” for instance, on a fence near his farm in Derry, New Hampshire, and “The Oven Bird” (1920) on birds indigenous to the nearby woods.

Solitary travelers appear frequently in Frost’s poems, and their attitudes toward their journeys and their surroundings highlight poetic and historical themes, including the figure of the wanderer and the changing social landscape of New England. The solitary traveler simultaneously exists as an observer of the landscape. Found in “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening” (1923), “Into My Own,” “Acquainted with the Night,” and “The Road Not Taken” (1920), among other poems, the solitary traveler demonstrates the historical and regional context of Frost’s poetry.

Puritan belief of hard work

Labor functions as a tool for self-analysis and discovery in Frost’s poetry. The puritans came to New England and turned the uninhabitable and uncultivable land into the habitable and cultivable land through their hard work. It is their labour which helped them survive in that hostile environment.  Frost praises labour or hard working mentality in his poetry.  Frost’s speakers work, labor, and act—mending fences, as in “Mending Wall”; harvesting fruit, as in “After Apple-Picking”; or cutting hay, as in “Mowing” (1915). Even children work, although the hard labor of the little boy in “Out, Out—” (1920) leads to his death. The boy’s death implies that while work was necessary for adults, children should be exempted from difficult labor until they have attained the required maturity with which to handle both the physical and the mental stress that goes along with rural life. Frost implies that a connection with the earth and with one’s self can only be achieved by actively communing with the natural world through work.

Puritanic Style

One of the key elements of the puritan writing is its plainness and simplicity. Like their life style, their writing is also not ornamented , but simple and colloquial. Most striking about these lyrics and narrative dialogues is their language: seemingly colloquial, homely, unpoetical yet a sensitive literary idiom. More successfully than any other American poet, Frost has fulfilled Wordsworth’s aim of using common speech heightened by passion. In his diction there is none of the humorous condescension of Lowell’s Yankee dialect; it is never assumed in a Frost poem that either the poet or the reader is superior to the speaker. This is a democratic attitude. Frost may be regarded as one of the stylists of the colloquial.
A friend once told Frost that the tone of his verse was too much like talk. But fortunately Frost did not change his style. It was just this tone that he had been trying to get into his verse. He said that Emerson had already set forth the theory he was trying to put into practice.

Symbolism

Puritans tried to interpret everything symbolically. A simple event like falling of a leaf or appearing of a meteor in the sky was interpreted symbolicaaly by the puritans. Symbols also abound in Frost’s poems.  ’’Mending Wall” presents to us the ideas of barriers between people, communication, friendship and the sense of security people gain from barriers.

The poem called `The Mountain” has a symbolic signifiance. On that surface, the poem tells the story of a man living at the foot of a mountain, who has never climbed to the top either to see the great view from there or to see the brook that flows there, or merely for the shake of climbing. But, on a deeper scrutiny, we find that this man symboisesthe uninquisitive, unadventurous, unambitious spirit.

The setting of "The Road Not Taken" is the symbolism of the poem, because it communicates the idea and message. Our lives are like roads, with splitting paths representing the different choices that we must make. Robert Frost depicted the two paths that he had come across as being two separate ways because he understood that he would probably never come back to see what was down the path he did not choose, “Yet knowing how the way leads on to way/ I doubted if I should ever come back”. 

There is a famous poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”. On the surface, it is a poem about a traveler who feels tempted to go into the woods which are “lovely, dark and deep” and to stay there in order to enjoy their strange beauty and charm, but who is not able to carry out his wish on account of the realization that he has promises to keep and miles to go. But the poem has a deeper, symbolic significance. The words “promises”, “miles”, and “sleep” have deeper meanings. “Promises” and “miles to go” imply duties and responsibilities. “Sleep” symbolizes death. There are the promises which he has made to himself and to others, or which others have made on his behalf. And there are the miles he must travel through other kinds of experience before he yields to that final and inevitable commitment-death.

In the poem ’Fire and Ice”, fire symbolizes the heat of passion while ice represents the cold hate. The extremes of both passion and hate have the power to destroy and annihilate the world.

Thus, Robert Frost was inspired by puritan objects and themes in his poetry.  New England or more strictly speaking that part of it which lies north of Boston ,provides the rural context within which Frost’s most characteristic poems presented. It is this rural world which provides him not only with the setting ,but also with the objects ,the incidents ,the events and the characters he writes about. But Frost treats all these elements of nature differently from the English romantics. He takes the familiar objects as the subject matters of his poetry but makes them highly suggestive and symbolic to represent some universal wisdom.Thus,though he is forever linked to the stone-pocked hills and woods of New England, he treated some thems that have universal appeal.

Members

Translate