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Robert Frost is one of those poets where if I think I understand the poem after one reading, I'm often wrong. This is a great poem, but I don't think it has a p
by CobrastanJorji 2y ago
Robert Frost is one of those poets where if I think I understand the poem after one reading, I'm often wrong. This is a great poem, but I don't think it has a particularly hidden meaning. Am I mistaken?
- archagon 2y agoI think that the mantra-like effect of the last two lines plus the mention of unfulfilled promises suggests a certain “call of the void” from the wintery scene. So I think there’s a lurking darkness to the poem behind the surface story of entrancing natural beauty on the way to some engagement. (But I’m not sure if that was Frost’s actual intent.)
- georgeburdell 2y agoYes that’s the read I got as well. He is contemplating letting himself get taken away by lingering too long in the frigid conditions, but then snaps out of it.
- xbar 2y agoFor me, the repetition calls into question the snapping out of it, as though he might yet succumb, hypnotized.
- kcrwfrd_ 2y agoThis poem has always made me think of the contemplation of death or suicide, but “call of the void” is a much better way of putting it.
- kragen 2y agoIt's the standard term in French: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appel_du_vide https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appel_du_vide
- zugi 2y agoFrost said he loved to read the critics' reviews of his poems, so he could learn the meaning behind what he had written.
- keepamovin 2y agoI feel like he may not have even been being ironic, what with the 'channeled' or tapped-in nature of some poems. Someone here posted a video of him reading it, before that he confirms he got this one out in a very short amount of time.