My Presentation on Theme of Robert Frost Poetry. Frost’s poems deal with man in relation with the universe. Man’s environment as seen by frost is quite indifferent to man, neither hostile nor benevolent. Man is alone and frail as compared to the vastness of the universe.

1. Topic:-Theme of Robert Frost Poetry
Submitted to:
Smt. S.B. Gardi
Department of English
M.K.Bhavnagar University, Bhavnagar.

2. Key Index
 Introduction Robert Frost
 Work of Robert Frost
 MainTheme of Frost Poetry
 Conclusion

3. Presentation will be useful in…..
 Write a note on Robert Frost as a nature poet.
 Write a note on Robert Frost’s use of symbols
in his poems.
 Evaluated frost poetryTheme
 Robert Frost Poetry is modernist Arts..

4. ROBERT FROST’S THEMES
Frost’s poems deal with man in relation with the universe. Man’s
environment as seen by frost is quite indifferent to man, neither hostile
nor benevolent. Man is alone and frail as compared to the vastness of
the universe.

5.  Such a view of “man on earth confronting the
total universe” is inevitably linked with certain
themes in frost’s poetry.
 He liked to use language as it is actually spoken.
 He is a poet of deep thoughts. Behind his
descriptions you can find spiritual meaning.
 He wrote the poem in such a way that it could
either be about his relationship with his neighbor
or about relationships with any one anywhere.

6. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy
Evening
Home Burial
Design
Mending wall
fire & Ice
The Gift Outright
His Works:
The Egg and
the Machine
Dust of Snow
Meeting and
Passing

7. Man’s isolation
 One of the most striking themes in Frost’s
poetry is man’s isolation from his universe
or alienation from his environment. Frost
writes in“Desert Places”, “The loneliness
includes me unawares”. Man is essentially
alone, as is borne out in frost’s poetry.

8.  Frost is not so much concerned with depicting
the cultural ethos of New England people as with
presenting them “caught up in a struggle with
the elementary problem of existence”.The
New England of Frost reflects his consciousness
of “an agrarian society isolated within an
urbanized world”.
 Man is alone in the countryside or in the city
in “Acquainted with the Night”.

9.  In “Home Burial”, the lady suffers from a
terrible sense of self-alienation, as well as
alienation from her surroundings. And, more
than the physical loneliness, man suffers from
the loneliness within.
 ‘My words are nearly always an offense.
 I don’t know how to speak of anything.’

10. Some Important Theme in Frost
Poem:
Barrier is the predominant theme
Theme of human limitation
Theme of extinction or death
Theme of love
Theme of affirmation
Man’s Isolation

11.  A concern with barrier is the predominant
theme in Frost’s poetry.
 Man is always erecting and trying to bring
down barriers-- between man and environment,
between man and man.
 Practically all of Frost’s poems depict
the theme of human limitation. The universe
seems chaotic and horrific because man’s
limited faculties cannot comprehend its
meaning. Walls, physical and real, mental and
invisible, separate man from Nature.


12.  “Neither Out Far Nor In Deep” shows man’s limitation
concerning the mysterious universe. “Stopping by Woods on
a Snowy Evening” conveys the sense of an impenetrable and
indefinite universe.
 The poem has a sad, melancholy or calm tone. The tone is
achieved though the use of continuants in the poem which
gives the slow paces and sad mood.
• In nature you can find beauty and peace at heart. You
cannot choose what you really want to do if you have
“promises to keep”, which are your duty and responsibility
to fulfill.

13.  Theme of extinction or death also runs
through the major themes of Frost. In many a
poem he writes of “sleep” which is associated
with death. “Fire and Ice” is a noteworthy
poem on destruction by excess of desire or
hatred. “Stopping byWoods on a Snowy
Evening”, “After Apple Picking”, “An Old
Man’sWinter Night”, all these poems have a
reference to death.

14.  Theme of love is central to Frost’s poems. If
there is any force that can help man meet the
challenges of the universe, it is love.
 In several of Frost’s poems, the significance of
love between man and woman, or friendly
love is brought out. It is when love breaks
down or fades off that life becomes
unbearable especially for the women in
Frost’s poetry.

15.  Theme of affirmation is also found in some
of his poems. Frost ultimately presents the
need for man to make the most of his
situation. Aware of man’s limitations, he yet
desires man to explore and seek knowledge
and truth. Man should learn to accept things
and his limitations cheerfully. He suggests
stoical will and effort in the face of adversity
as in “West Running Brook”.

16.  In most of Frost’s poems, the speaker
undergoes a process of self-discovery.The
wood-chopper of “TwoTramps in Mud
Time” realizes by the end of the poem that he
chops wood for love of work only but love
and need should not be separated.

17. There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, 'Good fences make good
neighbours'.
Neighbour’s
negative attitude –
good social
relationships cannot
exist when men are
separated from one
another

18.  In the face of the mystery and riddle of life
there is necessity for determined human
performance.

19. To Conclude …..
 The major themes as discussed above are
expressed through various devices.The
symbolic significance invested in certain
recurring objects like the stars, the snow, the
woods serve to bring home to the reader all
the more vividly the position of Man in the
Universe.