Robert Frost
1. life
2. point of view
(1) All his life, Frost was concerned with constructions through poetry. “a momentary stay against confusion”.
(2) He understands the terror and tragedy in nature, but also its beauty.
(3) Unlike the English romantic poets of 19th century, he didn’t believe that man could find harmony with nature. He believed that serenity came from working, usually amid natural forces, which couldn’t be understood. He regarded work as “significant toil”.
3. works – poems
the first: A Boy’s Will
collections: North of Boston, Mountain Interval (mature), New Hampshire
4. style/features of his poems
(1) Most of his poems took New England as setting, and the subjects were chosen from daily life of ordinary people, such as “mending wall”, “picking apples”.
(2) He writes most often about landscape and people – the loneliness and poverty of isolated farmers, beauty, terror and tragedy in nature. He also describes some abnormal people, e.g. “deceptively simple”, “philosophical poet”.
(3) Although he was popular during 1920s, he didn’t experiment like other modern poets. He used conventional forms, plain language, traditional metre, and wrote in a pastured tradition.
IX. e. e. cummings
“a juggler with syntax, grammar and diction” – individualism, “painter poet”
