Analysis Of Love And A Question By Robert Frost

Decent Essays
“You don’t want to say directly what you can say indirectly” (Parini 86), is a quote from the 1999 book, Robert Frost a life by Jay Parini. Robert Frost makes this remark in an attempt to show readers that when it comes to poetry, he prefers to write about themes that people love and then make those matters disappear and rise again in new forms. This complex writing goal of Frost, appears to send a clear message to readers: the voice that Frost is presenting in his poetry will likely present themes that contains layers of meaning. Not only does this cleaver writing technique opens the door to provocative themes in poetry, but it may even force the audience toward an ambiguous reading of the text. One poem that appears to read with this style of double meaning and morphing themes is Frost’s poem “Love and a Question,” from the 1913 collection, A Boy’s Will. When the voice that Frost is presenting mixes the topics of right or wrong with a very strong sexual desire for someone, the mood of the text increases rapidly as a dramatic conflict between opposing elements unfolds for the …show more content…
As we begin to examine the poem, the first line uses the word “eve” to not only tell the audience that it is sundown, but that an event is imminent. Heightening the ominous nature of the scene more, the use of “eve” and “night” reassure the audience that it is really dark outside, “Without a window light” (Frost 17). Using “Autumn” and “winter” wording, the poem outlines for the audience that these two consecutive seasons bring “wind” to the world and the harsh transformation of plant life, “The Woodbine leaves littered the yard, The woodbine berries were blue” (Frost 17). Now that the scene is set during a cold gusty evening with the possibility of danger, an encounter occurs between two

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