Daniel Im

IB Lang 12

Moosman 4

The Gift Outright Analysis

Overall, it seems that this poem is talking about the ideas of manifest destiny as

well as how America was always ours and that the best gift to give it was the American people. It

starts off with talking about how the American land has always been owned by the Americans

today before we took the land and became what the land contains, “owning” us. Frost goes

through a bit of history about the origins of the colonists in Massachusetts and Virginia under

England’s rule still. Even though there was no sense of ownership of the land at the time, they

still have owned the land. At the end of the Revolutionary War, colonizers obtained their

freedom and as a deed, became a gift to the land, fighting and sacrificing themselves for the land.

With much love, settlers moved west to find new areas allowing them to expand their love and

deed. To me, I agree with the historical stuff behind it but the idea of how we own this land even

before we took ownership of it seems kind of wrong. Logically, we don’t really own any land but

take possession over it to take a sense of power as well as privacy. However, it makes sense

when thought in the way that it was our destiny to in the future, take this land and become

possession of the land. Personally, I don’t believe in that and we are just saying all these things

to justify the acts we went through to get where we are today. In addition, I don’t believe that we

are owned by the land and that our sacrifices are our gift to the lands. I am that person to believe

that a nation is more about the people rather than the destination. The American people are what

makes America American. Because of this, I don’t think that we are devoting our lives in war as

a gift for the land but rather for the people that live in this nation.