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A STUDY OF THE MELANCHOLY COLOR IN
ROBERT FROST'S POETRY
By
Wang Dianjiao
A Thesis
Submitted to the Graduate School and College of English
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for
The Degree of Master ofArts
Under the Supervision of Professor Shi Zhikang
Shanghai International Studies University
December 15, 2005
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Acknowledgements
I'd like to acknowledge the contributions of many people, especially my thesis
supervisor, Professor Shi Zhikang, for his guidance and valuable suggestions on the
subject matter. His dedication and cooperation was invaluable to this thesis.
I would like to express my sincere respect and gratitude to all the professors in the
College of English Language and Literature of SISU who taught me scientific ways of
doing researches as well as provided me with abundant knowledge that enabled me to
do some research work by myself. Their expertise, encouragement and dedication to
their fields of study were an inspiration and encouragement to me.
To my friends, I want to extend my appreciation for their suggestions which
enlightened me a lot, and to my family members, I wish to thank them for their
understanding and unwavering support, without whose continual encouragement, this
thesis could not have been finished.
Abstract
This thesis is devoted to a study of melancholy which pervades Frost's poetry and its
significant function in enriching the meaning of his poetry. It is to carry out a
systematical research on this aspect in three chapters. Chapter Two is an observation
of Frost's rough life experience and his age, as well as their indispensable influence
on his writing; Chapter Three focuses on the analysis of melancholy element as is
shown in Frost's poetic techniques by highlighting the uncertainty structure both at
the end of the poems and in the arrangement of meaning, and by presenting the
special rhyme scheme of Frost's poetry in serving sense; Chapter Four is a general
comment on the themes related to the performance of melancholy role in Frost's
poetry by exploring the themes of "life and death", "loneliness", "time", and "barrier".
With all these efforts, the author of this thesis believes that the melancholy factor
accounts for the occupying part of Robert Frost's poetic charm, and attempts to show
a different side of Frost and an extended meaning of his poetry in a more specific way,
which, the author hopes, can help Frost readers understand him and read his poetry
from a brand new angle.
摘要
本文旨在探究罗伯特-弗罗斯特诗歌中的忧郁色彩及其在诗歌创作中的重要功能
和意义。文章主要通过三个部分加以论述:第二章回顾了弗罗斯特坎坷的生活经
历和他所处的社会时代，证明两者是其创作过程中忧郁色彩产生的重要因素:第
三章分析了其诗歌技巧使用上所体现出来的忧郁，其中涉及到诗歌结尾不确定性
结构的应用和诗歌韵律安排中表现出来的忧郁:第四章评述了弗罗斯特诗歌中关
于"生死"、"孤独"、"时间"、"屏障"的主题，以发掘"忧郁色彩"之具体表现形式。
以上各个方面的分析与论述旨在证明‘忧郁"因素是弗罗斯特诗歌魅力之所在，它
体现了弗氏本人的另一个侧面，同时为读者展现了弗罗斯特研究的新视角。
A Study on the Melancholy Color in Robert Frost's Poetry
Contents
Chapter 1.
Introduction
3
1.1General Remarks
3
1.2Critical Status in China and Abroad
.3
1.2.1 Critical Status in China
.4
1.2.2 Critical Status Abroad
5
Chapter 2. Life vs. Poetry
11
2.1 Life Experience vs. Melancholy in Frost's Poetry
11
2.2 Industrialization vs. Personal Dissatisfaction
13
Chapter 3.
19
Melancholy Presented through Poetic Techniques
3.1. Uncertainty Performed in Robert Frost's Poetry
"
19
3.1.1 Uncertainty Shown at the End of The Road Not Taken.
19
3.1.2 Uncertainty Shown in the Meaning of Snow ofDust
22
3.2. Melancholy That Pervades in the Rhyme Schemes
25
3.2.1 Melancholy in the Rhyme Scheme of Stopping by Woods in a Snowy
Evening
25
3.2.2 Melancholy in the Rhyme Scheme of Design
.27
Chapter 4.
30
Related Themes
4.1 The Theme of Life and Death
30
4.1.1 An Analysis of Stopping by Woods in a Snowy Evening
30
4.1.2 An Analysis of After Apple-Picking
32
A Study on the Melancholy Color in Robert Frost's Poetry
2
4.2 The Theme of Loneliness-an Analysis of Acquainted with the
Night
34
4.3. The Theme of Time-an Analysis of Nothing Gold Can Stay
.37
4.4. The Theme of Barrier-an Analysis of Mending Wall
39
Chapter 5. Conclusion•.. ~ •...... . .•.. .•. .. .•. . .•.. .•... ... . .•... .•. .•. . . .•. .. .. .....42
Bibliography
A Study on the Melancholy Color in Robert Frost's Poetry
3
Chapter 1. Introduction
1.1 General Remarks
Robert Lee Frost, one of America leading
zo" century poets and four-time winner of the
Pulitzer Prize, is also considered one of the greatest modem American poets and
meanwhile the most controversial one. As one of the greatest innovators in blank verse,
Frost cultivated a sophisticated use of colloquial speech, instilling new life to the
traditional forms of poem writing, and forged fame for his plain and obvious style. Frost's
importance as a poet derives from the power and memorability of some particular poems.
The Death ofthe Hired Man (from North ofBoston) combines lyric and dramatic poetry in
blank verse. After Apple-Picking (from the same volume) is a free-verse dream poem with
philosophical undertones. Mending Wall (also published in North of Boston) demonstrates
Frost's simultaneous command of lyrical verse, dramatic conversation, and ironic
commentary. The Road Not Taken, Birches (from Mountain Interval) and the often-studied
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening (from New Hampshire) exemplify Frost's ability to
join the pastoral and philosophical modes in lyrics of unforgettable beauty. However, his
seemingly limpid lines were considered as evidence of the poet's simplicity, or even worse,
simplemindedness. His popularity also invited academically sophisticated suspicion and
criticism. Though Frost often seemed an off-handed farmer-philosopher, it often occurs
that afterthought is needed in order to fully understand the meaning of his poetry. Frost's
poetry, while seeming to possess a democratically appealing simplicity and clarity, also
was obsessed with unresolved tension and frequent melancholy. Just as was testified by his
own remarks: "Ever since infancy I have had the habit of leaving my blocks carts chairs
and such like ordinaries where people would be pretty sure to fall forward over them in the
dark. Forward, you understand, and in the dark." (Robert Faggen 2001: pi).
1.2 Critical Status in China and Abroad
Critics in China and abroad have provided large amount of information about Robert Frost
A Study on the Melancholy Color in Robert Frost's Poetry
4
mainly from three aspects: life and career, techniques, and poetic ideology. Generally
speaking, the controversy mainly lies in the understanding of Frost's poems. Some critics
believe that he is a romantic as Frost called he himself once, therefore, they pay attention
to the appreciation of the country beauty. At the same time, a few of them consider him as
a landscape drawer, claiming that he is nothing but a simple-minded farmer poet; However,
an overwhelming majority of Frost's critics believe that, whatever else he may have been,
Frost is not a romantic. They find Robert Frost with a different face in an alienated world.
Some even stand on the extreme side claiming that he is a poet producing terror like Edgar
Allan Poe. Opinions vary from despising to admiring, from criticizing to defending, but a
great poet SHOULD be someone inviting different views and immense misunderstanding.
The following sub-branches are a general review of the important critics with their
knowledge of and comment on Robert Frost.
1.2.1 Critical Status in China
Study of Robert Frost in China has made some progress, but it is too general and unilateral.
The reason to make such statement is that a large number of critics have been focusing on
introducing him mainly as a lyric poet, which can be seen both in university text books and
the academic reviews. Meanwhile, they have conducted an analysis to one or more Frost's
poems in an all-inclusive way. Many of the critics tend to interpret or analyze a specific
poem in a general way. For instance, Mr. Ou Rong's paper The Road Must be Taken: On
the Road Not Taken
(1aX5R
1999: 47-49) is created mainly to appreciate
one of Frost's
masterpieces The Road Not Taken from the perspectives of the verse form, sound, structure
and symbolic significance. However, there are also some who have brought Frost study in
China to a brand new stage, from mere appreciating to sophisticated criticism. Though an
extremely thin book, Comprehensive Study Guide to Seven Poems by Robert Frost edited
by Li Dasan C$jt-=.) and Tan Deyi Ci3ktf,)() provides a deep and precious critical view
to seven poems by Robert Frost with short but precise comments to the genre, theme,
structure, and versification. Mr. Liu ShengC)(rj1:)and Chen TianxiangC ~:;Rff), together,
analyze Frost's cognitive modes and summarize it as the philosophical theory of "from
sight to insight" ()(lj1:, ~:;RfT: 1995: 54-58); Ms. Liu Aiying ()(rj~~) in her essay On
A Study on the Melancholy Color in Robert Frost's Poetry
5
the Visual Images in Frost's Poems c~rJ~~ 1996: 32-34) tries proving that the ordinary
traditional images like wall, house, tree, stone, and ladder are not simply for visual
pleasure, instead, they symbolize and are closely connected with human destiny; Mr. Liu
Bao'an (~IJ~~)in his essay Simplicity and Depth ofRobert Frost's Poems (~IJ~~ 2001:
94-96) explores the connotation and philosophical significance of Frost's works, holding
that under the mask of simplicity in Frost's poetic form, there is profound philosophical
meaning; Ms. Liu Yanli (~Ij-m*U) chooses the topic of "dialogue between being rational
and being irrational" for discussion, through which she explains the writer's innermost
clash between the social-self and the natural-self (~IJ-m*U 2003: 62-64).
1.2.2 Critical Status Abroad
Study of Robert Frost abroad, especially in America, has made unprecedented progress.
Critics no longer set their eyes merely on the superficial elements contained in Frost's
works. It seems that now they all agree that his works are anything but simple, and begin to
doubt the poet as well as his stance. Contributors generally can be classified into three
categories. Some offer valuable personal materials of Robert Frost, which have enriched
readers' knowledge about Frost the person greatly; Some explore the art, techniques, and
themes of his poetry in an all-round way, providing at the same time with different
methods for appreciation; And the others focus on the criticism of his works, which
contribute cherishable methodologies to the study on him. The following passages are a list
of some essential critics who have made a lot of contributions to this area.
Collections of Frost biographical materials are to be found in several influential works as
follows: Robert Frost: The Trial by Existence (1960) is an endearing profile of Robert
Frost by Elizabeth Shepley Sergeant containing extensive biographical information on
Frost, with brief comments on his poetry; Margaret Bartlett, student of Robert Frost in
New Hampshire recorded in her book Robert Frost and John Bartlett: The Record of a
Friendship (1963) a close and affectionate friendship with Frost; Robert Frost in Russia
(1964) by F. D. Reeve, a poet and translator, provides a new introduction, new photos, and
useful endnotes to his account of Robert Frost's 1962 goodwill trip to the Soviet Union;
Notes on Robert Frost, Robert Frost: The Early Years. 1874-1915 (1966), Robert Frost:
A Study on the Melancholy Color in Robert Frost's Poetry
6
The Years of Triumph, 1915-1938 (1970) and Robert Frost: The Later Years, 1938-1963
(1976) by Lawrence Thompson divergently presents Frost as a selfish, egomaniacal, cruel,
and angry man, and shows that Frost is actually a neurotic, tormented by guilt over the
death of two of his children, haunted by fears, nightmares, and hopeless suicide, which
later was called by Parini as Thompson's personal revenge on Frost; A Swinger ofBirches
(1969) by Sidney Cox with an introduction by Robert Frost deals with Frost's life, poetic
values, craftsmanship, and even teaching of poetry, which Frost himself said it "ought to be
a good book'"; Family letters of Robert and Elinor Frost (1972) provided by Lesley Lee
Francis (granddaughter of Robert Frost) and edited by Arnold Grade begins in effect in
1917, being made of some 168 letters, about 50 of them written by Mrs. Frost, and
three-quarters of its letters are addressed to their oldest daughter, Lesley, the rest to other
children and grandchildren. It documents but does not explore much of the terrible
sequence of sorrows that tormented the poet's later life-the death of a daughter from
childbearing fever, the death of his wife 25 years before himself, the suicide of a son, and
another daughter
becoming insane; Frank Lentricchia and Melissa Christensen
Lentricchia's Robert Frost: A Bibliography, 1913-1974 (1976), gives reliable data
concerning the publication of Frost's works; Poets at Work: The Paris Review Interviews
(1979) edited by George Plimpton includes a vivid conversation of Richard Poirier with
Frost in 1961 in respect of his life, poetic value and other things; The Book Frost: A
Literary Life Reconsidered (1984) by William H. Pritchard is an anti-Thompsonian
criticism and revisionist biography, presenting Robert Frost in a strikingly different light
than did Lawrence Thompson. He sees Frost whole, demonstrating the complex interaction
between the poet's life and work; In 1995, Richard Poirier and Mark S. Richardson
together published their Collected Poems, Prose & Plays (1995) which includes a complete
collection of Frost's poetry, prose, dramas, lectures, essays, fictions, and letters; A few
years later after the publication of William H. Pritchard's anti-Thompsonian A Literary Life
Reconsidered, Jeffrey Meyers published his Robert Frost: A Biography (1996),
representing a return to Thompson by charging Parini and exploring guilty of Frost in his
various life crises; Robert Frost: A Life (1999) by professor Jay Parini surely provided a
defense of Frost's reputation which he thought had been distorted in Thompson's three
I
See the introduction of A Swinger ofBirches: A Portrait ofRobert Frost by Sidney Cox, 1969.
A Study on the Melancholy Color in Robert Frost's Poetry
7
volumes. In his book, Frost is viewed with sympathy as a loner who liked company, a poet
of isolation who sought a mass audience, and a rebel who sought to fit in; And Lea
Newman's recently published Robert Frost: The People, Places, and Stories Behind his
New England Poetry (2000) has assembled in beautifully written essays the biographical
information and later insights by Frost and colleagues.
There are also many who focus on the craftsmanship of Frost, to name just a few: The
Pastoral Art ofRobert Frost (1960) by John F. Lynen is an integral Frost canon. The book
is well worth reading in its entirety for insight into the use of pastoralism as a poetic device.
Lynen's observation of how Frost uses nature in his poetry is particularly useful; Elaine
Barry's book Robert Frost on writing (1973) is primarily a collection of letters, prefaces,
reviews, lectures and interviews about and by Robert Frost. The poet reveals, in his own
words, many of his thoughts on the art of poem writing. The collection assembled by Ms.
Barry is an invaluable account of Frost's ideas; And Robert Faggen's The Cambridge
Companion to Robert Frost (2004) is a collection of essays by many familiar figures in
Frost criticism like William Pritchard, George Monteiro, and Mark Richardson, covering
Frost's life experience, poetic style, writing techniques, and his political, economical, and
humanistic values.
Similarly, scholars also have made their efforts in the critical study of Frost, which verifies
the controversy on the greatness of Frost. Randall Jarrell's Tenderness and Passive Sadness
(1947) refers Frost as one of the subtlest and saddest of poets, and holds that no other
living poet has written so well about the actions of ordinary men; The group lead by
Lawrence Thompson is willing to grant that he grew up in the romantic tradition'. Yet, they
insist that Frost either greatly modified his romanticism or abandoned it altogether; Hyatt
Waggoner' and Reginald Cook", among others, have argued that Frost's poetic vision is
fundamentally different from Emerson's; Robert Langbaum and Marion Montgomery"
have made the same point about Frost and Wordsworth; Robert Frost, an Introduction
Thompson, Lawrance. Fire and Ice: The Art and Thought ofRobert Frost. (New York: Holt, 1942)
Waggoner, Hyatt. H. The Heel ofElohim. (Norman: Oklahoma UP, 1950) 59.
4 Cook, Reginald. The Dimensions of Robert Frost. (New York: Holt, 1958) 214-215.
5 Langbaum, Robert. "The New Nature Poetry." (American Scholar 28, 1959) 323-340.
6 Montgomery, Marion. "Robert Frost and His Use of Barriers: Man YS. Nature Toward God" Robert Frost: A Collection
ofCritical Essays. (ed.) James M. Cox. (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice, 1962) 138-150.
1
3
A Study on the Melancholy Color in Robert Frost's Poetry
8
(1961) by Robert A. Greenberg and James G. Hepburn is a comprehensive work including
bibliographical notes of Frost and poetic comments on Frost's poems by several critics,
among which there are Ezra Pound and Amy Lowell on North of Boston; Robert Frost: A
Collection of Critical Essays (1962) edited by James M. Cox is a valuable book which has
collected and arranged widely divergent points of view in chronological order. These
essays reveal the development of modem critical attitudes toward Frost's poetry. This book
opens a new stage of Frost criticism by defining Frost as one of the greatest 20th century
poets. In the book, William Dean Howells saw the volume North of Boston as "the old
poetry as young as ever" (Cox 1962: 4); Ezra Pound also congratulated Frost for breaking
away from "stilted pseudo-literary language" (Cox 1962: 4); Malcolm Cowley opens
the case against Frost concerning Frost's political and psychological conservatism which,
argues Cowley, prevented Frost from being a part of the society or facing the wilderness of
self. He further stated that Frost abandoned the responsibility by standing safely at the edge
of the woods and refusing to take the risks of town and forest; Yvor Winters also holds the
similar opinion about Frost; and Horold H. Watts's8 essay observes that Frost is totally
adrift and somewhat disengaged from the world. He defended Frost to some extent by
arguing that Frost's dramatic narrative reflects his awareness of the complexity of human
affairs, and that the characters in his poetry are usually found isolated instead of being
accompanied or in the midst of social activity; Later, W. G. O'Donnen 9 and John Napier I 0
clearly state their assumption that Frost's achievement far surpasses his limitations; Lionel
Trilling's 11 speech on Frost's birthday is an announcement on the confirmation of Frost,
which marks the surrender of the resistance against Frost during the 1930s; George W.
Nitchie's "A Momentary Stay Against Confusion" (Cox 1962: 159-175) and John F.
Lynen's "Frost as Modern Poet" (Cox 1962: 176-198) were published in the same year, but
with opposite estimates of Frost. The former described Frost as solitary, lonely, and bearing
negative concept of the world, nevertheless, the latter gave a fine analysis to Frost's poetic
7 Cowley, Malcolm. "The case Against Mr. Frost". Robert frost: A Collection of Critical Essays. (ed.) James M. Cox.
(Englewood Cliffs: Prentice, 1962) 36-45.
8 Watts, Horold H. "Robert Frost and the Interrupted Dialogue". Robert Frost: A Collection of Critical Essays. (ed.)
James M. Cox. (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice, 1962) 105-122.
9 O'Donnell, W. G "Robert Frost and New England: a revaluation". Robert Frost: A Collection a/Critical Essays. (ed.)
James M. Cox. (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice, 1962) 46-57.
10 Napier, John. "A Momentary stay Against Confusion". Robert Frost: A Collection of Critical Essays. (ed.) James M.
Cox. (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice, 1962) 123-137.
11 Trilling, Lionel. "A Speech on Robert Frost: A Cultural Episode". Robert Frost: A Collection a/Critical Essays. (ed.)
James M. Cox. (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice, 1962) 151-158.
A Study on the Melancholy Color in Robert Frost's Poetry
9
skills and values, which is on the side of defense; Norman N. Holland's works The Brain of
Robert Frost (1988) is a cognitive approach conducted by psychological insights,
exploring the working of the human mind through a close examination of Frost's poems. It
also shows how contemporary theories of cognitive and brain science interact with theories
of writing and reading; Robert Frost and a Poetics ofAppetite (1994) by Katherine Kearns
is a fashionable critical book. It reads Frost's poetry within a theoretical perspective.
Except for its feminist analysis, it also evaluates Frost's persistent feminizing of poetic
language. Keams examines how Frost's dual and potentially conflicting obligations-to be
manly and to be a poet-influenced his entire poetics. Rather than approaching Frost's
poetry with the methods of deconstruction, this book finds that Frost himself encourages a
deconstructive reading, because his unstable ironies, his complexities and his
manipulations of form are designed to produce the conviction that any suggestion of
significance is arbitrary and personal. The study unites biography, psychology and
feminism, which create an adept and imaginative interpretation; Although Joseph Brodsky,
the Russian Nobel Prize winner for Literature in 1987, was not a professional critic on
Frost, he revealed in his On Grief and Reason (1995) that Frost was one of his favorite
poets, and referred his tones as darker than his image as the "folksy, crusty, wisecracking
old gentleman farmer" would suggest. He also included a tribute to Frost who enlightened
him in his way to success. And The Ordeal of Robert Frost: The Poet and His Poetics
(1997) by Mark Richardson depicts Frost as a thorough contemporary poet, dynamically
engaged, in his own way, with the developments of literary modernism and the social and
political issues of his time.
As a part of Frost study, this thesis is devoted to the study of melancholy color that
pervades Frost's poetry and its significant functions in enriching the meaning and
strengthening the attraction of his poetry. Some of the critics aforementioned have also
conducted discussions in their works on this topic to some extent, but they primarily focus
on whether to put Frost on the positive side or to see him a producer of horrors; or whether
to identify him as the one deeply concerned with and rooted in society, or to regard him as
an escapist or irresponsible person. This thesis, instead, will carry out a systematical and
integrated research on Frost's poetic charm concealed in the melancholy factor by
A Study on the Melancholy Color in Robert Frost's Poetry
10
observing the influence of Frost's rough life experience on his writing, by analyzing the
melancholy element shown through various poetic techniques relying on the analysis of
uncertainty form and poetic rhyme schemes, and by summarizing the themes closely
related to the performance of melancholy role in Frost's poetry. With all these efforts, the
author of this thesis tries to show a new side of Frost, which, the author hopes, can help
Frost readers understand him and his poetry from a brand new angle.