Analysis Of The Depiction Of Nature In The Poetry Of Robert Frost And Thomas Hardy
This essay explores the various ways in which nature is portrayed through selected poems by the American poet, Robert Frost, as compared with the English poet, Thomas Hardy. Because the theme of nature can be shown through anything natural, from the smallest insects to the largest galaxies, it will be interesting to find out how these authors weave this theme into their poems and how they relate nature to something so different and use it to symbolize something entirely different as part of a bigger picture. Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) was a Victorian novelist and poet, he thought of himself as a natural born poet, and his poems are written with so much thought and imagery, that I thought it would be interesting to write about some of them.
The poems chosen to be analyzed by hardy is The Drummer Hodge and The Darkling Thrush. Robert Frost (1874-1963) was an American poet who had won 4 Pulitzer prizes and I thought that it would be fitting to compare some of their poetry to find out where their viewpoints differ, especially around the theme of nature because I was curious to see how nature can be used to convey the author’s feelings and emotions to the audience. The following poems by him will be discussed in the essay: Fire and Ice and Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.
Discussion of Hardy and Frost as a Poet
Both Hardy and Frost wrote poems containing the theme of nature, but that is not all they have in common. Both poets are from a time where nature as a subject was rejected by modernist poets, whom they were both not very fond of in return. They wrote a new form of poetry where the nature and mind fit together to convey a deeper meaning for the reader somehow by connecting nature with something ‘real’ that the audience could relate to in their own lives or at least understand the underlying meaning. Hardy believed nature to be indifferent to the existence and effect on human kind. He deeply valued the beauty and eminence of nature, but due to the influences on the theory of evolution, he was even more convinced of a malicious, evil side, and that nature entails the power of destruction to humans.
On the other hand, Frost had some similar views on nature, such as its power to wield destruction, yet, he still showed tremendous admiration for it. Frost is not considered a traditional poet, and he never deemed himself one either. Most of his poetry containing the theme of nature involve some sort of relation between nature and humanity, believing that boundaries between nature and humans meant that they could co-exist. He mentioned once that he had “a lover’s quarrel with the world” (1941), and this is the main subject on many of his poems. Destruction in nature Both Hardy and Frost wrote of the destruction of something, whether it be the destruction of humanity, the world, or something else. This section will look at how the Hardy uses nature in the poem ‘Drummer Hodge’ to show how cruel some people can be and how he uses nature to help him convey these thoughts. The poem that will be analyzed by Frost is called ‘Fire and Ice’, and how Frost uses the two natural elements to portray the destruction of the world. The poem ‘Drummer Hodge’, is a poem in which Hardy uses nature to highlight his adverse opinions on the outbreak of Boer War, due to British imperialism in South Africa. He uses numerous natural elements to convey his message. The first stanza already uses imagery to provide visualization for the reader. The first natural element presented in this stanza is a “His landmark a kopje-crest/ That breaks the veldt around”. A kopje is a small hill often consisting of big rocks that lions most often climb up to, crest gives the image of a circle-like shape, almost as if it were protection and the veldt is a large flat area of land that the kopje-crest lays above; However, in this case it represents Drummer Hodge’s landmark, therefore in it further emphasizes how disrespectful and brutal these men were; not even a grave marker to show empathy for the children that died, even if under the circumstances it had to be done quickly. This not only shows that soldiers have lost their compassion during the war, as no matter what the circumstances were, there should still be respect. This also shows that the war was one step towards the destruction of humanity. The last two lines of this stanza reads: “And foreign constellations west/ Each night above his mound”. Constellations could symbolize fate, Hardy may be using this to convey his feelings, that ‘Hodge’ dying in the ‘foreign west’ and having to rest under the unfamiliar and strange skies for the rest of eternity, was callous, especially as he is not home.
Almost the entire second stanza consists of natural imagery, the lines “Fresh from his Wessex home --/ The meaning of the broad Karoo". The word ‘Karoo’ is a semi-desert area in South Africa, and in this case, Hardy may be using it to represent the area where Boer War occurred; the Drummer Hodge, ‘fresh’ from his home in England probably never knew what he was getting into, this accentuates how young the drummer was and could be Hardy’s method of showing the harsh reality that is war. The last two lines in this stanza is used to further emphasize how foreign the land of the Drummer’s burial is. The lines are “And why uprose to nightly view/ strange stars amid the gloam. ” This proves the point by using the alliteration ‘strange stars’ to show how alien the new environment is and the ‘nightly view’ to show that the Drummer would have to deal with the unfamiliar surrounding night after night. This use of nature helps Hardy to show how unjust it is for the boys who died and Hardy viewpoint on how the sacrifices in war is not necessary. The imagery makes it more personal for the audience as they are able to imagine what the situation was like. In the last stanza, Hardy uses nature to put the matter of the poem to rest and to find some peace. He wrote “His homely Northern breast and brain/ Grow to some Southern tree. ” The natural geographical distances by using the words ‘Northern’ and ‘Southern’ forces the reader to think about the vast distance between the two and put them into contrast with each other to show how far the boy is from his home, but Hardy uses nature to give the boy some life by turning his dead corpse into a tree. In the short poem ‘Fire and Ice’, only two elements are mentioned, and no human character is involved.
Within the poem, Frost provides his own insight into how the world will end; either with fire or with ice. It does not allow for any other theme to come into play, such as fate, but since many believe Frost was an atheist, it makes sense that Frost has come to a more scientific conclusion. The two elements symbolize something entirely different, as ‘fire’ could represent desire and greed laced with impulsive actions, whereas ‘ice’ could be interpreted as hatred, which also links with planning and thinking. If this is the case, then Frost could be hiding an underlying meaning using symbolism that the world will be destroyed by humans and the imagery that Frost creates form a whole new dimension to the poem. Frost writes “From what I’ve tasted of desire/ I hold with those who favor fire. ” This quote could mean that he has had experience of greed/ jealousy, therefore he believes that that would take over the world, even today, people are killed over petty disagreements and jealousy. The next line states “if I had to perish twice, / I think I know enough of hate/ To say that for destruction ice/ Is also great. ” The word 'perish' could represent death and the ending of the world, but we can see from these lines that even though Frost knows the power of fire, he also has a good understanding of ice, and he knows that they are mutually destructive. This is because just as many have been hurt or killed over greed, hatred can also play a big part in destruction because we cannot live in peace and harmony, which could lead to war.
The last line of the poem is “and would suffice”. The word 'suffice' is means that there is enough power within the elements to destroy the world. But this word also makes the topic seem more insignificant and this is contrasts with the fact that he is actually writing about the downfall of humanity. Here Frost is saying that we do not know which of the elements is more powerful, but we do know that both are capable of destruction. Another element that makes this such an effective poems is that it makes the audience think about how it can relate to their everyday lives as they have to think about the underlying meanings behind it. Moreover, the use of rhymes in this poem also makes the poem more serious and meaningful, for instance, 'fire/desire' instantly relating the two together and 'perish twice/ice' also makes sound more dooming as it effectively conveys the ice's power. Both of these poems contain destructive elements linking with humanity. The ‘Drummer Hodge’ was destroyed by man's greed to expand into other countries, and in ‘Fire and Ice’, it talks about two things that will be the cause of destruction; either through greed or desire.
However, the poems do differ, Hardy uses nature mostly to show the cruelty to mankind then using it to find peace, whereas Frost uses these natural elements in order to present the power nature. This is interesting because it shows how destruction can be displayed through different ways and on such different topics.
Symbolism in Nature
Hardy and Frost used symbolism in their poetry to highlight their emotions and thoughts. Both poets provide the reader with staggering imagery by using numerous similes, metaphors, personification and other literary techniques. 'The Darkling Thrush' by Thomas Hardy, starts off with a dark and gloomy tone, along with a description of the beauty of the natural winter environment. The tone also offers the reader with a sense of depression and loneliness. The poem ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’ by Robert Frost also offers a similar start to the poem. Both poems provide an insight into what the poets were feeling during the time they were written. In 'The Darkling Thrush', hardy shows his inner thoughts at the beginning of the poem by using the simile “the tangles bine-stems scored the sky like strings of broken lyres,” suggesting all he sees when he looks up at the sky is destruction, as the end of the 19th century is nearing, almost as if the world is about to end. Another technique that Hardy uses to state his emotion is through the personification “the land’s sharp features seemed to be/ The Century’s corpse outleant”. The land is symbolism of everything that has happened during the century and by personifying ‘Century’, stating that it is a corpse, lets the reader understand that it is the end of something, and by giving it human-like characteristics, it is showing that the century is moving ahead, whilst the corpse symbolizes the land that is left behind.
Also, by using the alliteration of ‘c’ in “Century’s corpse” it puts further emphasis on the melancholy atmosphere. In ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’, there is a contrast in tone as it conveys a more happy and optimistic mood, which we can see through the line “Whose woods these are I think I know”. This is optimistic because the ‘I’ character seems confident about travelling inside the woods, and this could also be interpreted as memories because he has to have experience of the woods in the past. This can indicate that the poem is based upon a trip down memory lane. Later on, in this stanza, Frost writes: “He will not see me stopping here/ To watch his woods fill up with snow. ” From these lines, we can clearly see that the author is a lover of nature as he stops to take in the exquisite view. Also, during winter, most stay indoors, so we can see from his actions, that the author may also enjoy the solitude. The second stanza in ‘The Darkling Thrush’ continues the ominous tone of the first stanza, it gives the impression that there is no life in the surroundings, almost as if there is no hope left. We can see this through the line “The ancient pulse of germ and birth/ Was shrunken hard and dry”.
The word ‘germ’ is like conceiving something, but nothing is conceived or born as there is no pulse, which is the force that gives life. This conveys the thought that everything in that area is dead or barren, and there was no way of reviving it. The dead landscape helps Hardy convey his joyless perspective. The rhythm of this poem remains constant through the last two stanzas, this shows that even through all of the imagery of depression, gloom and death in the landscape, life goes on, it is not possible to stop time from continuing into the next century. The second stanza in 'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening', a horse is introduced with the lines "My little horse must think it queer/ To stop without a farmhouse near”, and again with the lines "he gives his harness bells a shake/ to ask if there is some mistake" in the third stanza. It is clear that at first, that the he is wondering whether the horse thinks that it is strange that they have stopped in the forest, which is then confirmed when the horse shakes his bells. We also know an estimate of the duration of the time that they were there from the line "to watch his woods fill up with snow. " These three lines combined creates mystery because it makes the reader think of what it is that captured the rider's attention for so long that even the horse thought there was something wrong as well as the fact that snow takes a long time to build up on the ground, especially on the "darkest evening of the year. " Thereafter in the third stanza, it is evident from the imagery in the line "the only other sound's the sweep/ of easy wind and downy flake. " that the rider was captivated by the nature and beauty surrounding him.
The imagery makes the atmosphere seem very soothing, able to convince the rider to stay there and forget about his 'promises'. Hardy also delivers a change in atmosphere in 'The Darkling Thrush" at the third stanza by introducing the thrush. Hardy introduces the bird with words that are lyrical and rhythmic, just like that of a thrush’s song. The first two stanzas of this poem had been ominous and dark, but the bird brings elation to the entire atmosphere. “At once a voice arose among/ The bleak twigs overhead/ In a full-hearted evensong/ Of joy illimited;” We can see that in this stanza, Hardy is still convinced that there is no hope and the adjective ‘bleak’ in the second line can represent this, however, there is a contrast in mood when Hardy hears a voice, singing a ‘full-hearted evensong’, as compared with an earlier stanza, where hardy mentions ‘broken lyres’, saying that there is no music and no joy. This represents happiness and hope because there is music. We find out where the song is coming from in the next two lines “An aged thrush, frail, gaunt and small, / In blast-beruffled plume” this quote goes to show that despite the fact that the thrush is ‘frail’ and ‘aged’, it can still sing a song of ‘joy illimited’. The thrush does not know that the end is of the century is nearing, therefore it remains unaffected by that, yet it can still bring joy to its surroundings with just it’s voice. It creates a contrast with Hardy’s previous lack of joy. Moreover, the fact that the thrush is not personified creates an even bigger contrast by making sure that the reader know that it is just a bird, and nothing more, but it can still be happy even though it is weak.
