Frost's development as a Poet.

How Does “Home Burial” show Frost’s Development as a Poet?

Frost wrote “In Hardwood Groves”” and “Home Burial” at different stages in his poetic career. The structural differences are clear, the two poems differ in length, layout and most evidently the ease with which they can be read. Although they are so different in appearance, both poems have the similar theme of death; one of several re-occurring subjects that Frost used in much of his poetry.

“In Hardwood Groves” was published in Frost’s first book of poetry; this book contained many poems with typical forms of the time; with regular rhyme and rhythm. It was poems such as this one that threw Frost into the limelight and with his book, “A Boy’s Will”, he became a recognised poet.

“In Hardwood Groves” is written using fairly simple language, the ideas behind the poem are expressed plainly with not much fancy decoration. The language used is forceful, for example; ‘they must go down’. This is a major contrast to the tranquillity of nature, but Frost goes on to show that the positive outcome of the leaves dying is the new life of the ‘dancing flowers’. The message behind the poem is that death must occur to allow new life to be born. The rhymes within the poem s

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no regular rhythm or rhyme, shows that in this poem Frost does not accept death into his life and makes the atmosphere uncomfortable, the uncertain ending is representing that the pain the death of his son created will never end. ‘Not you – Oh, where’s my hat… any man can’ make the argument seem real, as though Frost is describing an argument that he himself may have had with his wife had.

The general tone of “In Hardwood Groves” is positive. The concentrated emotions within it allow it to be interpreted in many ways, which makes it very symbolic of Frost’s true emotions. As his style developed he decided that he wanted his words plain, and that he would write just the facts unadorned. This is more noticeable in “In Hardwood Groves” as the subject of the poem is the changing of the seasons, but the message within it seems to be the same as in “Home Burial”; this being that death is part of nature and is necessary if life is to continue. It is in the form of a conversation with lots of natural, although rather complex, speech. In this poem, the negative impact of death is balanced and resolved by tranquillity, but in “Home Burial” the impact of death is uncertain. The uncertainty in structure that the argument creates, i. In many ways “Home Burial” is not like a poem, it has no rhyme or rhythm, no metaphors or onomatopoeias, yet it was printed with the rest of Frost's poetry.

Although the style in which Frost wrote changed fairly dramatically throughout his years as a published poet, there are many similarities between his early and later works, most predominantly the subjects that he wrote about. The ending in “Home Burial” is a direct contrast to “In Hardwood Groves” as the later has a definite ending, which is ironic because the cycle of life is continuous and will never end. The variation of long lines and short lines and the genuinely distressed speech, e. In “Home Burial” the emotions are expressed in a number of ways but mainly through a combination of imagery and language.

Approximate Word count = 1125
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

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