Robert Frost as a Poet

I love Frost's poetry, all of them full of mystery with an underline of irony. I find some to have a precision of mockery, in a sense, of how people view their world, while others hold a fantastical outlook on life. An example of each of these instances is "Mending Wall" versus "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." "Mending Wall" retains an implication that society is very much separated and we have this idea in our minds that "Good fences make good neighbors," when in actuality, we are only restricting the connections that we have with other people. "And set the wall between us once again. We keep the wall between us as we go." Then, as if making a transition into another thought, Frost writes "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" and breaks away from reality. The carriage man in the text seems to want to go into the woods as a means to escape his duties of life, as he stops to admire his beautiful environment. Frost's simplicity leaves no limitation on the imagination that can be conjured in this poem, and this is one of the many elements I love about his work. Also, his poetry is diverse, each with its own flavor and feeling. I admire how he writes of other views as well, and incorporates them with his own, such as in the "Mending Wall." If I had to recommend a poet from this particular era, it would be Robert Frost due to his creativity and variation.

Dunbar...Suppressed?

In regards to the poem we read today, "We Wear the Mask" by Paul Laurence Dunbar, I could not help but place a connection between the suppressed African Americans in which he is referring to and other limited individuals of our time. There are people who are presently starving, homeless, and have no support and nowhere to go. I have to admit that I am angered by the fact that Dunbar would think he could identify with slaves and/or present people with these limitations because he was very successful, and although he had a difficult time achieving his goals, I feel that he was a lucky individual. To say that he was gravely suppressed is untrue because he definitely attained a successful career in writing. Although most of his poems are a telling of others stories, in "We Wear the Mask" he is saying that he is a part of that group and, therefore, limited himself. I do not believe this at all; everyone has their struggles in life, some just lack the opportunities others are privileged with. In this case, Dunbar was a very privileged individual.

Regarding our past couple required readings...

The stories about people being happy about their spouses dying and feeling as if they are now "free", as Theodore Dreiser describes it, proves to be very unsettling to me. What kind of people would say that about the supposed love of their life? To put it bluntly, these thoughts are ridiculous and inexcusable. Even if they are unhappy, it is their fault only for being so. In "Free" the protagonist does address this in the text by explaining his thoughts on the matter. "God, what a fool he had been!...having made a mistake it was his duty...to stick by it and make the best of it...", said Mr. Waymaker (page 19). He is majorly contradicting himself in this passage because he seems to blame it all on himself that he is stuck in this marriage, and yet, instead of "making the best of it" all of his thoughts towards his wife are negative. He is not "making the best of it" because if he were, he would have some sort of affection for her. At the very least, he would not want her to die. I think that he should be grateful for the children she bore him and the love she has for him. I also think that he is slightly in denial because he must have loved her if he proposed to her and wanted to marry her. If he had not, he would never have even started the process. However, people do tend to be out of touch with reality and make stupid mistakes when they have a great deal of freedom. He did talk about having a well-established position in an office building and having money. So, maybe he was as blind as he said he was. I just can't imagine not being happy with the one you have pledged your life to and the one you have had children with and have been intimate with. I do not understand how someone can go through all of those things and not feel anything. I have always had an appreciation and an adoration for couples who grew old together and had never been with anyone else. This is why these few stories have made me angry because it is not something I ever thought could be possible or, in my case, fathomable.