I decided to comment about Robert Frost’s “The Wood-Pile” because he comes across as a very creative individual. I was aware of his son’s suicide and his daughter’s mental collapse from the introduction. Knowing this information helped me to formulate a comparison about his life’s trials and tribulations and the unfolding of his scenic poem “The Wood-Pile.”
From the first part of the poem, I was able to draw the conclusion that Robert Frost has been met by indecision throughout his life, and that although life has been fair he has had a few setbacks. Frost writes:
I paused and said, “I will turn back from here.
No, I will go on farther—and we shall see.”
The hard snow held me, save where now and then
One foot went through.
As I continued to read I was able to infer that the little bird he encounters is his son, who was distant and kept to himself. Frost thought it was foolish to think of what was going through his son’s mind. However, he may have saved his son from suicide if he had tried to guess what his son was thinking or going through. Frost continues to write:
A small bird flew before me. He was careful
To put a tree between us when he lighted,
And say no word to tell me who he was
Who was so foolish as to think what he thought….
One flight out sideways would have undeceived him.
Frost further explains that he forgets about the little bird due to a wood-pile. He writes:
And then there was a pile of wood for which
I forgot him and let his little fear
Carry him off the way I might have gone,
Without so much as wishing him good-night.
From this I was able to deduce that he is talking about his daughter. He used to think about his son all the time and all of a sudden he had to shift his focus to his daughter’s mental collapse. The perfect wood-pile is his daughter. He shows how this illness starts to affect her and that she just lets herself go. The tree holding the pile on one side and still growing is the part of him who wants to stay strong. The stake and prop that are holding up the wood-pile on the other side, and is about to fall is the side of him who is not taking it very well and wants to give up. Frost continues:
The wood was gray and the bark warping off it
And the pile somewhat sunken….
What held it, though, on one side was a tree
Still growing, and on one a stake and prop,
These latter about to fall
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Wow, you have the (immense) patience required to appreciate poetry. Don't lose it, or you may miss out on a lot of intriguing/beautiful/enlightening stuff. Also, your knack makes it easier for squirming readers like myself to understand what is going on. My interpretation (assuming it even existed) of this poem was nowhere near as in depth as yours, and I'm really glad I stopped to read this post, which was itself enlightening. And it also made me think (way more than Frost himself did . . .) about how he mentioned the wood pile was neglected for a long period of time, just left all by itself even though it was perfectly good. Maybe Frost feels that his daughter's breakdown was caused by him ignoring her in his greif? My brain is grateful to you for making that query possible.
ReplyDeleteGreat post.