Yim 1

Sheila Yim

Dr. Osgood-Treston

English 1B

Bars behind Robert Frost

Poems are written using different elements that are combined to come up with an artistic piece of

work. The creative use of different elements of the poem with the given pieces were vivid

examples of their authors' successful work. Biographical Criticism is defined as an approach to

literature about the author’s life and background in understanding his works. It helps the reader

find a light in the theme that he wants to relay to the readers. It focuses on how the life of the

author is linked to the content of his work and his life. The facts from the author’s life are used in

his work. The criticism started with the simplicity of words but with an insightful idea that his

work is related to his life. Biographical criticism should not be interchanged with autobiography

they are two different ideas. With this paper, Robert Frost was the star of the show. We are going

to identify how his works become related to his life during the time it was working on it. Roberts

Frost’s persona and characteristics reflect on his works "The Road Not Taken", "Fire and Ice"

and "Design".

Robert Frost, in full name Robert Lee Frost, was born on March 26, 1874, in San Francisco

California U.S.S., and on January 29, 1963, at the age of 89. His father, William Prescott Frost

Jr. was a journalist while his mother taught a variety of schools in New Hampshire and

Massachusetts. He met his wife Elinor from high school when they shared as valedictorian. He
 Yim 2

continued his poetic career and got his first publication in 1894. Poetry had been for the younger

ones but Frost strives hard and proves that it is the game for everybody even the older ones. He is

an American poet that uses realism in his works. Realism is a literary genre that uses the real-life

experiences of the humans around him. The struggles, challenges, and behavior he did over it.

He is an author that uses realism in most of his works. The clarity and simplicity of his work of

art make it more engaging to the readers. His poetry speaks of the humanity and the challenges

of humans facing the struggles in life. The poetries that use realist works are as close to the truth

as possible. These writers do not romanticize or dramatize anything.

In his poem “Fire and Ice” which was published in 1920. The poem speaks of weighing different

scenarios about the end of the world. People would say everybody will end in fire and on the

contrary, it will be because of ice. It highlights how the human being is self-destruction. He uses

the natural elements that symbolize hatred, desires, and the argument of emotions and feelings of

oneself. In this poem, Frost is looking at how humans think of the end of the world. This is

something to do with eschatology that writing about the end of the world. This poem was time

because during 1920 where World War I took place. He reflects on the potential of how the

natural environment would be the cause of the end of the world. It is the nature of any mankind

when facing a traumatic event like would even think how the world could end so that how this

poem is going to be this way.

Relating to Robert Frost’s first poem, a poem was written in a fourteen-line sonnet which is

entitled Design. This poem is based on his everyday observation between a spider and a flower

holding a dead moth. The spider has just eaten as it was described in the first part of the poem.

White symbolizes purity and it is significantly repeated several times in the poem and contrary to
 Yim 3

the dark elements included in the poem. The poem is presented ironically presented because of

the presence of white as a contrast to the dark ideas related to the spider.

In his third poem entitled “The Road Not Taken”, Frost portrays how an individual went through

a process of choosing the right decision to take in his life. Human beings have always to choose

whatever path he wanted to pass through and eventually learn if the path that he chooses is right

or wrong. This poem can be a representation of one of the decisions Frost had to choose. In

1894, Frost proposed to Elinor, but they cannot be married until Elinor finished college. When

they get married Frost’s grandfather both them a farm and Frost continue writing his poems

there. “Two roads diverged in a yellow road, and sorry I could not travel both”. The road

symbols the decision that he needs to make where he is moving to Great Britain and leaving

America behind. Frost expresses sadness that he cannot be able to travel and choose both of the

roads. “And be one traveler, long I stood”. There is uncertainty about the future he will be having

when they move to Great Britain. Unfortunately, their stay did not last for a long time. They

headed back to America when World War I started in 1915. In the lines, “And having perhaps

the better claim, Because it was grassy wanted to wear”. He is about the decision that he had

when they choose to move to Great Britain. When they return to American, Frost felt that he

goes back to when all things started. It is represented in this line, “Though as for that, the passing

there, Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay”. It is the same

morning when he is writing his poems on the farm. He would always have a place and the

opportunity to head back home with this line, ”Oh, I kept the first another day! Yet knowing how

way leads on to way”.

The analysis of Frost's life, from the time he left high school and the time he was able to publish

his own works, reflects how biographical background influenced the way he wrote his poems.
 Yim 4

The use of biographical criticism, helps the reader understand how life is being represented with

the bright and prowess skill of combining words and the use of the language of poetry. The genre

of Frost in writing poems which is realism applies the fact that life experiences can be

represented poetically. It is important to us readers, that we were able to connect the author’s life

to his works. This is a better way of understanding the hidden words in the poem.