Depiction of Nature in the Poetry of Robert Frost and that of the Romantics: Questing for Similitude and Dissimilitude through a Comparative Analysis

Abstract

This paper attempts to investigate the depiction of nature in the poetry of Robert Frost and how this treatment simultaneously resembles and differs from that of romantic poetry. Though he belongs to the era of modernism, his poetry carries numerous characteristics of romantic poetry. The researcher tries to compare the poetry of Robert Frost and that of the Romantics how they are identical or dissimilar in the representation of nature. Robert Frost might be called the interpreter of nature and humanity. He shows that he is a close observer of both nature and people. On the other hand, Romantic writers see nature as a source of inspiration, solace in agony, healer in mental illness, rescuer in struggling period, etc. They treat nature as Mother Nature where their poetry tells us the beauty of green forestland, woods, hills and mountains, riverbanks, pastoral scenarios, breezes and winds, fresh air, sunrises, and sunsets, etc. Whereas Robert Frost always tries to make a bridge between nature and humankind as he believes that there is a close relationship between man and nature. He finds a resemblance between the order of nature and human life. Frost depicts the symbolic quality of nature. Nature symbolizes the human world and all creatures including mankind are bound to agree and obey the rules of nature. Thus this article would try to uphold Frost's treatment of nature in comparison with that of the Romantics.