Reluctance

OUT through the fields and the woods And over the walls I have wended; I have climbed the hills of view And looked at the world, and descended; I have come by the highway home, And lo, it is ended. The leaves are all dead on the ground, Save those that the oak is keeping To ravel them one by one And let them go scraping and creeping Out over the crusted snow, When others are sleeping. And the dead leaves lie huddled and still, No longer blown hither and thither; The last lone aster is gone; The flowers of the witch-hazel wither; The heart is still aching to seek, But the feet question ‘Whither?’ Ah, when to the heart of man Was it ever less than a treason To go with the drift of things, To yield with a grace to reason, And bow and accept the end Of a love or a season?

Reluctance is about man’s unwillingness to accept life as it flows. The poet having wandered over fields and walls (suggesting civilization) and hills and woods (suggesting wilderness) is on his way back home. He is saying that he has seen and experienced all aspects of life and is now home. His journey through life has come to a close. ‘Climbing hills’ refers to the difficulties faced in life and ‘descended’ perhaps to the compromises one has to make in life. The mood of the poem is reflective. The use of words such as ended, dead, lone, gone, wither, aching, all go to create this mood. His dull mood is reflected in nature too, the trees are barren, the snow is crusted, the dead leaves lie in heaps and the last of the blossoms are withered.

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature's first green is gold,Her hardest hue to hold.Her early leaf's a flower;But only so an hour.Then leaf subsides to leaf.So Eden sank to grief,So dawn goes down to day.Nothing gold can stay.

In Nothing Gold Can Stay, Frost talks of the nature of things that makes them precious. It is the desire of human beings to hold on to things that are momentary or short lived, for example when you see a beautiful rainbow. "Nature’s first green" is symbolic of childhood which we cannot hold on to and it quickly vanishes. "Early leaf’s flower" tells us that soon childhood flowers into youth. But youth too does not last. Eden is symbolic of adulthood that leads to old age and the sunset stands for death.

Putting in the Seed

You come to fetch me from my work to-nightWhen supper's on the table, and we'll seeIf I can leave off burying the whiteSoft petals fallen from the apple tree(Soft petals, yes, but not so barren quite,Mingled with these, smooth bean and wrinkled pea);And go along with you ere you lose sightOf what you came for and become like me,Slave to a Springtime passion for the earth.How Love burns through the Putting in the SeedOn through the watching for that early birthWhen, just as the soil tarnishes with weed,The sturdy seedling with arched body comesShouldering its way and shedding the earth crumbs.

The poem begins with a suggestion of obedience as the farmer waits for his wife to come for him when dinner is ready. He wonders if he’ll be able to "leave off" the sowing of peas and beans (along with the fallen petals of apple). He wonders if the wife would also forget what she came for and like him become: Slave to a Springtime passion for the earth. Every farmer can be expected to experience a feeling of love while sowing and seeing the seeds sprout and grow. But the poet's love for Nature is so overwhelming, that nothing less that 'burning' seems to describe this love. The love that he experiences in sowing seeds and seeing them sprout is so intense that he almost groans, "How Love burns through the Putting in the Seed On through the watching for that early birth".

Into my Own

One of my wishes is that those dark trees,So old and firm they scarcely show the breeze,Were not, as 'twere, the merest mask of gloom,But stretched away unto the edge of doom.
I should not be withheld but that some dayinto their vastness I should steal away,Fearless of ever finding open land,or highway where the slow wheel pours the sand.
I do not see why I should e'er turn back,Or those should not set forth upon my trackTo overtake me, who should miss me hereAnd long to know if still I held them dear.
They would not find me changed from him they knew--Only more sure of all I thought was true.

The first image in Into My Own is of dark, firm trees that appear as a "mask of gloom". The poem has a gloomy and dark mood. It is this world that he wishes to ‘steal’ away from and never ‘turn back’, have no regrets, because it is a dull and monotonous life. And he has no fear of the life at the edge of doom. But he ends the poem with a positive note, his confidence in his own beliefs, his love. Even in the world before he would neither lose his love for those he holds dear or change his beliefs. While writing this, both "love" and "beliefs" may have meant the same for Robert Frost. He seems to be challenging those who love him to test his love for them. They might follow him or overtake that is, die after or before him, but in the next world too they can be sure of his love.

Mowing

There was never a sound beside the wood but one,And that was my long scythe whispering to the ground.What was it it whispered? I knew not well myself;Perhaps it was something about the heat of the sun,Something, perhaps, about the lack of sound—And that was why it whispered and did not speak.It was no dream of the gift of idle hours,Or easy gold at the hand of fay or elf:Anything more than the truth would have seemed too weakTo the earnest love that laid the swale in rows,Not without feeble-pointed spikes of flowers(Pale orchises), and scared a bright green snake.The fact is the sweetest dream that labor knows.My long scythe whispered and left the hay to make.

In Mowing Frost wanders into the realms of imagination, but returns to "fact". Frost displays his preference for practical sense and labor rather than dreams. "There was never a sound beside the wood one", this line creates a stillness setting. It also draws the reader further to find out what that one sound was. "My long scythe whispering to the ground", takes a leap from real world into imagination at once. The scythe is a symbol of work. The poet gives its mechanical task the impression of tireless work that springs out only from earnest love for work. It reminds and reinforces the poet’s faith in the practical purposes of life that only can provide the sweetest things.

Biograpghy

Robert Lee Frost was born in San Francisco on March 26, 1874 to Isabelle Moodie, a Scottish schoolteacher, and William Prescott Frost, Jr., a journalist, local politician and ancestor of Devonshire Frost who had sailed to New Hampshire in 1634. Frost's family lived in California until his father had died when he was just eleven. He moved with his mother and sister to Lawrence, Massachusetts to live with his grandfather.

In 1892, Frost graduated from high school and attended Dartmouth College and was a member of the Theta Delta Chi fraternity. While attending college, Frost's first poem, "My Butterfly: An Elegy", was published in the New York Independent, which earned him $15, and had five poems published privately in 1894.

In 1895, Frost married a former schoolmate, Elinor White; they had six children. Frost then became a teacher and continued publishing his poems in magazines to support his family. From 1897 to 1899, Frost attended Harvard, but never received a degree. The couple moved to Derry, New Hampshire, where Frost worked as a cobbler, farmer and teacher at Pinkerton Academy. As the couple grew tired of farm life, they needed a change. Robert wanted to move to Vancouver and Elinor England, so England it was. In 1912 the couple sold their farm and moved to the Gloucestershire village of Dymock, where Robert became a full-time poet. The next year, A Boy's Will was published. The book received international fame and contains many of Frost's best-known poems.

Frost returned to America in 1915 and bought a farm in Franconia, New Hampshire to farther his career in writing, teaching and lecturing. From 1916 to 1938, Frost worked as an English professor at Amherst College. He encouraged his students to bring the sound of man to their writings.

In 1920, Frost purchased a farm in South Shaftsbur, Vermont. Robert's wife died in 1938, followed by four of his children. He suffered from depression and continual self-doubt. After the death of his wife, he employed Kay Morrison, who he became strongly attracted to. One of his finest love poems, A Witness Tree, was composed for her. Robert Lee Frost died on January 29, 1963 and is buried in the Old Bennington Cemetery in Bennington, Vermon

1984 Part 3 - Chapter 5

Everyone is afraid of something and is willing to do more to avoid what that thing might be, in Winston's case his fear is rats. This is the Party's last attempt to "cure" him takes place in room 101. Winston is faced with cages of starving rats waiting to feast. Winston finally broke down and shouted “Do it to Julia! Not me!”.

Under extreme circumstances people resort to extreme solutions. Many revolutions occur from this pattern, if theres a problem people will sacrifice to fix it. In Winston's situation his only choice is given up his last hope and betraying Julia to save himself.

In the end Winston and Julia's attempt to rebel was demolished by the secret police and the Party's desire to absolute power and eliminating the human race is one step closer.