Comments on: Frost on poetry: “the happy discoverer of your ends”

By: stumbley

stumbley — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 04:22:36 +0000

One of my favorite poemsI wish I could remember the authorgoes like this:

The giraffe is disappearing from the world
without a trace.
Who are we to say its legs are too long?
And that it looks like a rocking chair
running backwards in a dream?
Think of a girl with six fingers on one of her hands.
You must let that strange hand
Touch you.

By: grackle

grackle — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 04:45:14 +0000

Frost isnt in vogue now but that will likely change. Frost committed several sins in his career. He bucked the trend away from meter and rhyme toward free form poetry and perhaps because of this was initially ignored by American publishers and had to be published in Great Britain before the American literary establishment would recognize his talent. He also had the gall to become popular(for a poet). However, his main transgression was to write poetry that is immediately accessible to the poetically uninitiated, the average reader. You dont have to possess a Masters in literature in order to read and enjoy Frost, although his poems are certainly multi-layered. For just that reason Frost wears well; he can be profitably returned to time and time again. I have The Poetry of Robert Frost which is eleven of his books put together. He was among the last poets able to use ere and get away with it.

By: neo-neocon

neo-neocon — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 05:50:01 +0000

Well, grackle, I bet he was pretty young when he used “ere.” He just got it in under the wire, I bet.

By: Donald Webster

Donald Webster — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 07:29:38 +0000

Love Frost…remember Kennedy’s inaugural, when Mr. Frost was blinded
by the sun and couldn’t read his
poem, Dedication? He quoted an earlier poem he’d written in the 40’s,
which was very moving. I think it was
entitled The Gift Outright.
Here’s one I wrote for my grandkids
the other day:

Terrible Twos

You still smell new,
and the back of your neck
is the best place to kiss
when I can catch you.
You trip and bounce
off the coffee table.
I put ice on your head
and wipe away your tears,
realizing how much of God
is still within you, and
that the terrible twos
is just your guardian angel
trying to keep the world
from getting in.

By: renmin

renmin — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 08:37:18 +0000

Thank-you for this. My wife always asks why am I you wasting my time on political blogs?

By: Flash Gordon

Flash Gordon — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 10:10:36 +0000

In his essay, “The Figure That a Poem Makes” Frost said “A Poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom.”

Recently I’ve memorized “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening,” and “Fire and Ice” to exercise my 60-year old brain. I think Fire and Ice is an example of a poem beginning in delight and ending in wisdom. I’ll try to write the words from memory and without reference, so it may not be completely correct:

Some say the world will end in fire
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice
I think I know enough of hate
to say that ice
is also great
and would suffice.

————–

The line breaks might not be in the right place.