Robert Frost

Front 1

'The land was ours before we were the land's.'

Back 1

Catechism in nature.
Suggests that Americanism relies on a sense of entitlement to the land.
The state as claiming the individual.
A slave to the land...cultivation?

Front 2

'Massachussetts...Virginia'

Back 2

Arbitrary listing of original 13 states suggests that history is related to listing/symbolism and language.

Front 3

'Forthwith found salvation in surrender'

Back 3

Assonance and alliteration create a sense of parody. The American state is likened to a religious sacrifice.

Front 4

Fire and Ice

'From what I've tasted of desire/ I hold with those who favour fire'

Back 4

Simple rhyming couplets give the poem a colloquial feel. It is easy to engage with and challenges the difficulty of high modernism.
Desire/Fire in contrast to folksy rhyme is seen as natural...a sense of the importance of the individual self.
A radical sense of revolution.

Front 5

Fire and Ice

'that for destruction/Ice is also great'

Back 5

Juxtaposes glee with imagery that is both cold and apocalyptic.

Suggests frozen in time-stagnating effects of Americanism.

The destruction of the individual self ( like the gift outright)

Front 6

The Road Not Taken

'I shall be telling this with a sigh'

Back 6

Cliché and parody. History and narrative perceived to take precedence over individual experience.

Front 7

The Road Not Taken

'I took the one less travelled by/ And that has made all the difference'

Back 7

Ambiguous-may be parody BUT also can relate to the importance of agency and self expression. Short poem with simplistic rhyme, plays with the conventions of folk history/oral traditions.

Front 8

The Pasture

'I'm going out to fetch the little calf'

Back 8

Agency and nature, favours active participation in nature.

Front 9

The Pasture

'It's so young/It totters when she licks it with her tongue'

Back 9

Childlike rhyming couplets. Plain language and realist imagery. Privileges observation but also an active involvement with nature.