Robert Frosts Home Burial - 1304 Words

In â€Å"Home Burial,† Robert Frost uses language and imagery to show how differently a man and a women deal with grief. The poem not only describes the grief the two feel for the loss of their child but also the impending death of a marriage. Frost shows this by using a dramatic style set in New England. In his narrative poem, Frost starts a tense conversation between the man and the wife whose first child had died recently. Not only is there dissonance between the couple,but also a major communication conflict between the husband and the wife. As the poem opens, the wife is standing at the top of a staircase looking at her child’s grave through the window. Her husband is at the bottom of the stairs (â€Å"He saw her from the bottom of the†¦show more content†¦Looking at lines 3-9 you are able to see that the wife looks at her world through eyes of fear: Looking back over her shoulder at some fear. She took a doubtful step and then undid it To raise herself and look again... And her face changed from terrified to dull. (l. 3-9) Even though the wife may feel that her husband does not understand her grief, he does try to reach out to her. He implores her, â€Å"Help me, then† (l.46). He knows that he has a difficult time communicating with her and observes: My words are nearly always an offence. I dont know how to speak of anything. So as to please you. But I might be taught. I should suppose. I cant say I see how. A man must partly give up being a man. With women folk. (l.48-53) The husband acknowledges that she is grieving and asks her, â€Å"Let me into your grief† (l.62). He pleads with her, â€Å"Give me my chance† (l.64). He asks for help in such a way that his wife pushes him away again. She throws the accusation at him, â€Å"There you go sneering now!†Ã¢â‚¬  (l.70). This starts a second argument between the two. The argument now is whether the husband can grieve for the child, in the way that he is allowed without society looking down on him? The husband wants the world to know that he is hurting too, but how can he do this? The husband was never taught to grieve, so he is in the process of learning how to do this. The wife does notShow MoreRelated Robert Frosts Home Burial Essay1248 Words   |  5 Pages Robert Frosts Home Burial Robert Frosts dramatic dialogue poem, Home Burial, is the story of a short, but important, episode in the marriage of a typical New England farm couple. They are typical because their public personalities are stoic and unimaginative, and because their lives are set within the stark necessities of northeastern American farm life. Yet, they are also typical in that their emotions are those one might expect of young parents who have abruptly and, to them, inexplicablyRead MoreThe Power of Ambiguity in Robert Frosts Home Burial1115 Words   |  4 Pagesat the moment. Then years later the situation can be reflected on and the meaning potentially can be easily seen. Often poets make use of ambiguity to move a poem or story forward by leaving a little mystery to be pondered. Robert Frost uses this in the poem Home Burial effectively. â€Å"She was staring down, looking back over her shoulder at some fear.† (Frost) He discusses an impasse in a relationship by sing an example as mourning the death of a child. The death of a child can put a strain onRead MoreRobert Frost’s dramatic poem Home Burial depicts two tragedies: the loss of an infant and the1100 Words   |  5 Pages Robert Frost’s dramatic poem Home Burial depicts two tragedies: the loss of an infant and the deterioration of a marriage that follows. The emotional dialogue characterizes husband and wife with their habits of speech, illustrating the ways that they deal with grief. Instead of comforting her in her distress, the husband attempts at every turn to force his wife to cease grieving. The unnamed farmer’s inability to console his wife, who seems to feel so much more deeply the loss of her child, combinedRead More Robert Frost Home Burial - A Reflection of Reality Essay923 Words   |  4 Pages nbsp;Home Burial as a Reflection of Realitynbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Robert Frosts Home Burial is a masterfully written work, conceived from his and his wifes anguish at the loss of their first-born son as well as from the estrangement between his sister-in-law and her husband due to the death of their child. In Donald J. Greiners commentary on Frosts works, The Indespensible Robert Frost, it is revealed that Mrs. Frost could not ease her grief following Elliots death, and FrostRead MoreAnalysis of Home Burial1496 Words   |  6 PagesRobert Owen Marjory Thrash Eng 1123 V02 13 April 2009 Analysis of â€Å"Home Burial† Many of Robert Frost’s poems and short stories are a reflection of his personal life and events. Frost’s short story â€Å"Home Burial† emulates his experience living on a farm and the death of two of his sons. Frost gives an intimate view into the life and mind of a married couples’ struggle with grief and the strain it causes to their marriage. The characters Frost describes are synonymous, physically and emotionally,Read More The Theme of Death in Poetry Essay819 Words   |  4 PagesThe Theme of Death in Poetry Robert Frost and Emily Dickinson are two Modern American Poets who consistently wrote about the theme of death. While there are some comparisons between the two poets, when it comes to death as a theme, their writing styles were quite different. Robert Frost’s poem, â€Å"Home Burial,† and Emily Dickinson’s poems, â€Å"I felt a Funeral in my Brain,† and â€Å"I died for Beauty,† are three poems concerning death. While the theme is constant there are differences as well as similaritiesRead MoreComparison and Contrast How Death Effects Lives of Men and Women671 Words   |  3 Pagesas separation and stress. The poem, Home Burial, is a clear example of how the couple could not recover from the loss of their child due to the lack of communication. In spite of the fact that the characters in the poem are imaginary people, Robert Frost portrayed his personal life events in those characters lives. The unexpected death of a child can lead to a brake up i n the family, especially if there is miscommunication between the couple. Home Burial illustrates a husband and wife who areRead MoreAnalysis Of Robert Frost s Home Burial And The Death Of The Hired Man 2384 Words   |  10 Pages THESIS STATEMENT Robert Frost, an American poet during the Nineteenth Century, Modernist Era, displayed the issues of realism through his life issues of death and spousal relations through his poems: â€Å"Home Burial† and â€Å"The Death of the Hired Man†. INTRODUCTION Robert Frost’s inspiration for his poetry derived from much of his life and the historical events that surrounded him. American literary critic, Harold Bloom wrote in his Bloom’s Major Poets, â€Å"Robert Frost is one of the major American poets†¦inRead MoreBurial Of A Home By Robert Frost1482 Words   |  6 PagesBurial of a Home Robert Frost’s poem â€Å"Home Burial,† written in 1914, centers around the conversation of a married couple whose relationship is struggling after the death of their young child. A duality in meaning exists in the poem’s title, â€Å"Home Burial,† which references not only the death of their child but also the death of their marriage. Is the child’s death the sole cause of their marital distress? Robert Frost opens the poem in the couple’s home with the husband watching as his wife, Amy,Read MoreRobert Frost s Life Through Poetry1745 Words   |  7 PagesMarch 23, 2016 Robert Frost Reflects Life Through Poetry It is easy to express your emotions, and feelings through poetry. Which is exactly what Robert Frost has done through his entire career. Each poem Robert Frost has written, has meaning behind it all. He has gone through an extreme amount of events, and tragedies in his life. Frost has been through an unimaginable amount of losses, deaths, and loneliness throughout his years. Throughout his life his poetry has had a huge impact on him, the situations