ENGL 310: Modern Poetry

Lecture 3 - Robert Frost (cont.) << previous session | next session >>

Overview:

In this second lecture on the poetry of Robert Frost, the poet's use of iambic pentameter in "Birches" is discussed.  Frost's anti-modernity is evidenced in his interest in rural New England culture and his concern with the lives of laborers in "Home Burial."  The failure of humanity to work real change is sardonically depicted in "Provide, Provide," but a hopeful vision of the power of imagination is presented in the final lines of the late poem, "Directive."

Reading assignment:

Robert Frost: "The Oven Bird," "For Once," "Then," "Something," "The Silken Tent," "Never Again Would Bird Song Be the Same," "The Most of It, Fire and Ice," "Acquainted With the Night," "Desert Places," "Neither Out Far Nor In Deep," "Design," "Provide, Provide," "Directive," "The Gift Outright"

Class lecture:

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Resources:

Handout 3: Robert Frost (cont.) [text]
Section Activity: Robert Frost [text]

Credits:

"Provide, Provide" and "Out, Out--" from THE POETRY OF ROBERT FROST edited by Edward Connery Lathem. Copyright 1916, 1969, copyright 1964 by Lesley Ballantine, copyright 1936, 1944 by Robert Frost. Reprinted by permission of Henry Holt and Company, LLC.

This material is not licensed under a Creative Commons license. Users must seek permission to use such third-party materials directly from the publisher or estate, as appropriate.