Robert Frost

Robert Frost was born on March 26, 1874 in San Francisco, California. After his high school graduation in 1892, Frost attended Dartmouth University for several months. In 1894, he had his first poem, “My Butterfly: an Elegy,” published in The Independent, a weekly literary journal based in New York City. Robert Frost spent his first 40 years as an unknown. Frost received more than 40 honorary degrees during his lifetime. When WWI broke out in 1914, and Frost returned to America from England in early 1915. When Frost arrived back home, his reputation had preceded him, and he was well-received by the publishing world.

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He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life. His work frequently employed settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to examine complex social and philosophical themes.

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Key Links to help study:

Both are websites which contain most of his work.

These links are for quotes, themes, intentions and interpretations/analysis of Robert’s various works.

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I Dwell in a lonely house I know
That vanished many a summer ago,
And left no trace but the cellar walls,
And a cellar in which the daylight falls,
And the purple-stemmed wild raspberries grow.

O’er ruined fences the grape-vines shield
The woods come back to the mowing field;
The orchard tree has grown one copse
Of new wood and old where the woodpecker chops;
The footpath down to the well is healed.

I dwell with a strangely aching heart
In that vanished abode there far apart
On that disused and forgotten road
That has no dust-bath now for the toad.
Night comes; the black bats tumble and dart;

The whippoorwill is coming to shout
And hush and cluck and flutter about:
I hear him begin far enough away
Full many a time to say his say
Before he arrives to say it out.

It is under the small, dim, summer star.
I know not who these mute folk are
Who share the unlit place with me–
Those stones out under the low-limbed tree
Doubtless bear names that the mosses mar.

They are tireless folk, but slow and sad,
Though two, close-keeping, are lass and lad,–
With none among them that ever sings,
And yet, in view of how many things,
As sweet companions as might be had.

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Analysis:

The enigmatic tone of this poem combined with constant detailed references to nature are very characteristic of Frost, though it is, despite of things, optimistic and pleasant. There are several reasons why this should not be so: to begin, the title “Ghost House” denotes emptiness, abandon and death.

However, the narrator – seemingly a ghost just as his companions – appears to be somewhat at peace with his death, and expresses this in the way nature has prospered with their disappearance.

The cellar, previously a dark place, is now filled with “daylight” and “purple-stemmed wild raspberries”. The house, once used as a farm, is now being swallowed up by “the woods”, which have returned to reclaim “the mowing field”.

The most valuable line to suggest the nature rebirth, out of his own death, is “the footpath down to the well is healed”.

The following two stanzas seem to be more negative about the narrator’s loneliness, portrayed in his “strangely aching heart”.

The fact that he finds it “strange” to have a heart that aches can imply both that he is not alive and also that it may be aching for different reasons.

Even at nighttime “the black bats tumble and dart”; nature’s constant appearance is in such sharp contrast with the narrator’s own death.

The poem ends on a positive note: “in view of how many things,
As sweet companions as might be had.” They are no longer alive, but they are lucky to have each each other.

Frost may be criticizing the world here.

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I think that I will defiantly consider looking into other poets, however Frost is still the most appealing poet from research.

Look Up

A spoken word film for an online generation.

‘Look Up’ is a lesson taught to through a story of what could be and can never happen as a result of being consumed by the technology in our lives. It leaves a big impact on the viewer as the audience is dragged through a range of emotions building up to the end of the poem, where everything ties together.

As me myself, much like others are consumed with the technology we own, but I have to disagree with the morals of the poem as a whole. Yes, technology has led to changes in our social lives, how we communicate to friends, family and strangers; but ultimately technology has done nothing but good. Technology has allowed for advancements in communications worldwide, to sharing information and media, documenting our every mood, capturing precious memories. Technology saves and kills lives everyday, it is hard to blame technology for either ruining or improving society as that in essence a dependability on it’s usage.

The beginning of the poem somewhat disengages the audience as the poet uses a lot of personal pronouns, which however are still relating with the audience. He however moves to use lexical choices such as ‘we’, he starts engaging the audience into how technology is affecting him and the audience themselves. The poem starts to be directly targeted at the audience, in which the poet uses this to persuade the audience into what he is saying, persuading them to see his pint of view.

He progresses on to use contrasting sentences, alongside rhyming lexical choice it creates a song like fluidity to the poem, which is catchy for the audience to be attentive to. His tonal changes also add emphasis as it allows him to elongate and emphasise important parts of the poem, that he would want his audience to remember. Overall he does a good job at leaving an impact on the audience, regardless of if the audience agrees with the point he makes.

Blog post for homework

For this blog post I am writing out my seminar questions and my views on them.

It bases around pages 17-28 of ‘Property’.

-This segment of the novel outlines male dominance, leading on from previous pages; Manon’s husband tells Sarah and her about where they would be without him. He believes they wouldn’t be better off, however through out the novel Manon relives she would be better off.

-Manon makes clear that Sarah is her ‘property’ whereas in truth she is not. They are both the husbands property.

-We see from this chapter that it is not only the slaves that are having a hard time. Whether it be white people like Manon and her husband too face financial problems and marital problems. Although not as severe as the problems the slaves are going through. We seem to have this idea that at this time white people were the privileged.

-A lot of ironic foreshadowing is seen. For e.g. Again the husband mentions how worse off they would be without him. Manon almost wishes for him to die, to give herself a slightly better life. Which happens and which she does have.

-When Sarah says that she does not like the glass it shows several things. Firstly that she doesn’t want to be as emotionless as Manon, who stares out at slaves being hurt. The glass is almost like a metaphorical shield, protecting her from the outside. Secondly, it somehow links in with the slaves who attack the house later in the book. In how Manon sees people outside the window. Then as though Sarah somehow knows what’s going to happen.

-When Manon questions why she should be guilty, it shows she has some form of a conscience. A lot of white characters/slave owners in the novel are portrayed as not having any feeling for the slaves. I believe this is an example of the differences between men and women’s view of slavery.

-Manon doesn’t think of Sarah in a good way at all throughout the novel. She has an evident envy that Sarah is fertile to start with. She describes Sarah as all her suffering being her own fault. Then that was the fate of her being pregnant. She conotates the pregnancy as a negative. Yet that is something she may want but is needed in the novel.

What does a great production response for The Kite Runner look like?

A great response for The Kite Runner will include many aspects. These will be:

Character voice, think about how educated they are, in the book did they speak differently? Did they use a lot of colloquialisms and slang? Think about the emotion you are conveying behind that voice, and how their tone of voice would be in that case.
Your writing style, think about what person it will be written in. What are you writing, for example, if you are writing a diary entry you can be informal. However if you were a letter you would have to considerably more formal, unless the character does not tend to write formal. Also think about how they would address others.
You’ve acknowledged the novel, when writing your piece make sure to consider that it will coincide with the novel and not go off on a tangent. Also that it’s not completely made up and make it based on or around actual events in the novel. Try to refer to many parts of the novel even, this can make the piece seem more realistic.

A burger, the perfect essay?

It’s crazy to think that a burger could be the perfect essay, but that’s where we are wrong. A burger is the perfect essay, and I will tell you how.

Lets start, the bread of the burger at the top and bottom is the essays beginning and ending. You need to start off on a strong concealed point; but If you do not finish on one, the essay losses its purpose. This represents how the bread holds all the aspects of the burger together perfectly, without ruining its appeal.

The different foods concealed within the burger represent one paragraph of your essay, they are a solid mix that allows you to get the best flavor; in our case best points and evidence across.

To start with the lettuce represents the opening sentence, this is the first flavor (in our case point) so it has to hold a good impression. It must not include anything distasteful like quoting the terminology the author has used in the beginning point.

We then move on to the tomato this part equally follows the lettuce, if you’ve tasted a great flavor you need to assure that it will be continuous. Much like how we make a point, but it’s pointless without anything backing it up, it’s bland otherwise. So we need our evidence, this is so important because without this there is no viability to what your saying.

The cheese then follows as this represents the first breakdown from out lettuce and tomato; this is where we take our evidence and point and decipher what the author has used. What language and literary devices have been used. How does this back up your point.

Then finally the meat, the last aspect of the paragraph, the part everyone wants. This part is for us to analyse why certain aspects have been used by the author; to analyses its effect to the novel and characters etc. Even to mention how it links to another point in the novel or how it differs to another point made.

So next time you are thinking of how to write the best essay, think back to a burger, think back to all it’s different aspects and model your answer around that.

How did he do it?

Silva persuades his audience into choosing him for class representative, he achieves this by using many different structural features. His approach leaves a lasting impression on his audience.

To start with he addresses his audience in a familiar way, engaging them into his speech. He uses a lot of repetition in his starting sentences repeating that “memorize every last…”. He talks about the aspect and the words of his own speech, this emphasizes to his audience in how much effort he has put into this speech for them to listen.

He then goes on to inform the audience on how corrupt the government actually is, he uses juxtaposition and reflexive pronouns to contrast points he makes. He talks about how “over here they’re talking, over there we’re in a crippling recession” he is explaining how all these words are meaningless. How the viewpoints of the government members are irrelevant. Through this he effectively changes the viewpoint of the audience; he brings back the point that they’re “just talking” with words and not actions. He uses the government as an example of not being good representatives; whereas he suggests himself as being a good representative that wouldn’t make the same mistakes they do.

Furthermore, he changes his tone till he almost shouts, creating a strong emotive emphasis that what he is saying is meaningful. This essentially leaves a strong impression on the audience, alongside. He tells his audience “let me say that again” his repetition creates similar effect as he repeats that “you can argue against words” and that “you can’t argue against actions” and that he is “a man of actions”. He constantly compares himself to these figures, he’s prepared to counter all the bad the figures do. This makes the audience gain trust in him.

He does however go off on a tangent, talking about comic books, although unnecessary he mentions how they have “taught” him to “be a man”. He is using personal pronouns to create a familiarity to his audience. He’s going away from the facts and his point to create a connection to his audience. This emotive language, that he stresses upon the “symbols” of comic heroes being so dear to him leaves the audience believing they know him on a better basis. Familiarity is a major means to get an audience to vote for you, which he achieves.

However he eventually brings his speech back on point to the context, he ends his speech using repetition. He uses repetition cleverly in the end to create that lasting impression to his audience. He has built up many devices in order to persuade. He tells his audience several times what “a vote for me” can effect them, if they choose him. He repeats this three times over saying that the vote means “action”, “initiative” and “will” these link back to his previous points. He is making himself someone to look up to, he is describing the characteristics of ‘super heroes’, the very thing that inspires him. He creates this subtle persona over himself, he creates the government figures as the “villains” of his speech. This all essentially entertains the audience in a way but ultimately instructs them that it is imperative to vote for him.