English Literature 9695

Frost as a Modern Poet

Q. 'Frost took up 19th century tools and made them new; therefore we can class him as a modern poet.' Discuss this statement in the light of any two of his poems.

In spite of pastoral element predominant in Frost's poem, he is still a modern poet because his poetry has been endowed with the awareness of the problems of man living in the world dominated by Science and Technology. The poems that show this are, 'An Encounter' and 'The Sound of Trees'.

Frost presents nature in such a way that he is able to bring forward modern issues such as loneliness, frustrations, regrets, depression and disillusionment. In 'An Encounter' the persona is shown to cross paths with a 'resurrected tree' that is illustrated 'bark less spectre' carrying yellow wires. It is perhaps indicating how humans have replaced nature with technology as the tree is now shown as perhaps a telephone pole connecting people, yet ironically the persona seems to be 'hooked' in place. Frost presents the persona to be searching for the 'orchard Calypso', according to Greek mythology Calypso is a nymph that kept a man prisoner on her island until she was ordered to let him go. This could perhaps depict two things, how technology has made man its prisoner and resorted it to self-isolation and loneliness without him knowing why he is doing this to himself just like the man on the island was manipulated by Calypso into staying against his will. The second meaning could be that the persona wishes to be freed of technology and is shown to believe that finding the cause of this imprisonment may set him free. Thus Frost succeeds in illustrating the effect technology has on the life of a person as well as how it affects one's mental health by enforcing social isolation and creating a sense of loneliness and disillusionment.

Frost presents a pastoral technique to evaluate and comment on modern lifestyle. In 'The Sound of Trees' he has depicted trees as a symbol of people who tend to speak harshly and negatively until they become inescapable along with their philosophies that slowly start affecting you too. Frost has perhaps shown the toxicity of such people that exists even in modern times. In the 'Sound..' the persona is displayed to question why the noise made by the trees is borne, why they are allowed to be close to you, why do we suffer their noise until we lose ourselves in disillusionment. Near the end of the poem, Frost establishes that the persona has realised the voices are not leaving and he slowly starts to give in despite the struggle he tries to make, but he decides one day he will be free of the voices. Thus Frost presents how modern day social media effects people mentally when random strangers tend to comment on each other's lives whether it is positive commentary or negative. He has depicted how the youth suffers through this: they tend to let the opinion of others take over their lives and sometimes stir away from doing what they want to do. Rather, they follow the norms of society and end up questioning themselves instead of questioning the society.

It can also be said that through both poems Frost is trying to portray the burden of duty. Perhaps in 'An Encounter' the man is not looking for Calypso for freedom but instead the will to stay true to his responsibilities. Perhaps in the 'The Sound..' the trees are not putting the persona into social pressure but instead urging him towards freedom but he too realises his responsibilities towards the community and decides to stay perhaps telling himself that he will tolerate the tree's noise for the moment and leave when his work is done. Thus Frost also establishes the idea of contribution in development of the modern society.

His projections of nature and humans are timeless and relatable. Frost's realistic treatment of nature, his presentation of symbolic and metaphysical techniques and projection of the awareness of human problems of the modern society in his poetry perhaps justly entitle him to be looked up to as a modern poet.