Nature In Frost’s Poems Mending Wall And The Tuft Of Flowers

The invasive nature of discovery executes surprising and challenging conditions onto both the individual and the responder. Robert Frost uses multiple techniques throughout his texts which give insight into the anomalies, paradoxes, inconsistencies in human behaviour and motivations, inviting the reader to see the world differently, to challenge assumptions, ignite new ideas or reflect personally. The poems Mending Wall and The Tuft of Flowers are both contrary to each other as one contradicts the statement whereas the other confirms the statements. Mending Wall contradicts the statement by showing us that the neighbour does no change his perspective of living life according to the newer circumstances and allows the reader to view the world differently. Whereas in The Tuft of Flowers the persona is prevailing to change as he has begun to overcome the loneliness, through the assistance of the flowers. This notion allows the audience to think critically and feel emotion about their experiences. This indicates that Frost had an urge to make one reflect on their own thoughts. One did not have to read far into the poetry of First before realising all his poems had one major connection, Humanity.

The poem Mending Wall, by Frost, covers an anecdote of the persona and his neighbour who seems to constantly be rebuilding walls between themselves despite nature’s tireless efforts to persistently break them down; thus allowing the audience to critically think about their own experiences. Written in 1914 during the first world war, the poem is ambiguous in its true meaning, with its iambic pentameter, anecdotal qualities, and conversational tone. The poem commences with the phrase; “Something there's that doesn’t love a wall” where the persona is personifying the wall, giving it the potential to experience love which doesn't exist. The employment of repetition of the word “and” is additionally accustomed emphasise the number of disturbance nature seems to position upon the wall, exaggerating the extent nature is supposedly visiting, to physically destroy this wall: “That sends frozen-ground well under that, and spills the upper boulder sin the sun and make gaps even two can pass abreast”. We will say that this idea of nature’s physical conflict with the wall could be a metaphor for the walls the persona believes humans incorporate in their life within the midst of their relationships with others, walls which we keep to not allow others to return so close into their lives. He was quite pleased with the way the fences separated the two, as shown when he states “He says again, ‘Good fences observe neighbours.’” This statement challenges the given statement because the neighbour is refusing to simply accept change for the betterment or worse, which we aren't told. He feels protected somehow within the personal space of his walls. This gets the audience to critically think about their own relationships and the relationships that they build with others. Thus, this changed perception about the social organisation the persona has with their neighbour about rebuilding the wall.

Frost conveys in The Tuft of flowers, that self-discoveries are provoked naturally because the speaker begins his self-discovery by engaging with nature. When the speaker goes to appear for the mower and discovers that he's gone, a butterfly catches his interest, “But as I said it, swift there passed me by / On noiseless wing a bewildered butterfly”. Frost has used alliteration and rhyme to spotlight the impact of the butterfly on the speaker, it acts as a catalyst for his discovery because it ends up in the tuft of flowers. Frost illustrates that an individual’s interaction with nature only begins after discovering the tuft of flowers. After finding the tuft of flowers, the speaker considers that “the mower within the dew had loved them thus, / By leaving them to flourish, not for us,” during which the speaker realizes why the mower left the flowers, therefore giving the speaker a sense of kinship between him and therefore the unseen mower. Frost utilizes grammar to convey the message from the dawn, as commas separate the phrase “not for us” by a pause before and after, which emphasises that the flowers are left intentionally. The poem supports the given statement, as the persona was wallowing in his loneliness before he realised that the mower had left the tuft of flowers as a sign of gratitude and friendship. This shows that by the end of the poem the persona, through the assistance of the flowers, has started appreciating human services much more as well as escaping his remoteness. This ignites kinship between the mower and also the speaker.

Discoveries offer new insights into the existence and have the capacity to challenge presumed beliefs. In which, their core beliefs are either confirmed or converted by their experiences. Frost places a great deal of importance on Nature in all of his collections. He focuses on the dramatic struggles that occur within the natural world. For Frost, Nature is not simply a background for poetry, but rather a central character in his works. This notion is explored within Mending Wall and The Tuft of Flowers by Robert Frost, though the composer’s exploration into the complex differences of condition from all perspectives. These texts validate how surprising and proactive conditions imposed on an individual through discovery have the potential to continually alter them. 

16 December 2021
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