Challenges Faced by Robert Frost According to His Poems

Robert Frost was one of the greatest poets if not the greatest poet to ever live, but his life was not always easy; he had to face many struggles. After graduating from Harvard, Frost became school teacher with a salary of just 500 dollars a year. The poem, ”Once by the Pacific”, was written in 1928 by Robert Lee Frost (“Robert Frost: Poems Summary”). Frost was born in 1874 and died in 1963. Frost had five kids, all who ended up dying young before the age of twenty(“Robert Frost Biography”). Frost spent forty years unknown until selling his first poem in 1984 to a New York newspaper. Even through terrifying events, Frost managed to write exceptional poems about his life that ended up being beneficial to him in the long run.

Robert Frost channeled his stressful life into great poems. The following line is an example, “ Great waves looked over others coming in”(Frost 2). This sentence shows how the water is a force to reckon with or a force to fear. As a child, Frost was left at the beach many times alone, once during a storm. He claims this was a traumatic event that helped him write the poem,”Once by The Pacific”(“Robert Frost analysis”). Another example would be,“ And the thought of doing something to the shore”(Frost 3). He uses his fear of the ocean to write this beautiful poem that shows emotion which might not have been as vivid had he not lived this experience. This is one example of his ability to overcome terrible events, and use them to help him. Frost has not only written about events he has heard about, he has lived them. Few poets can ever say they could do this.

Frost was well acknowledged for a few specific reasons by showing mood, tone, and theme. Two good lines that show the theme are here,“ There would be more than ocean-water broken/Before God’s last put out the light was spoken” (Frost 13-14). The theme of the poem is fear and strength. His purpose for this poem was to change his fear for the water into a great poem. These lines show his unique rhyming scheme made entirely of couplets. Frost earned the awards he won for having the ability to make fluid, smooth poems. The mood of this poem is anger. The tone happens to be the same thing. The tone is anger shown on line twelve,”Someone had better be prepared for rage”(Frost 12). He clearly shows us how he feels, along with how the reader should feel. The theme of the poem is time is inevitable. No one can make time stop or reverse. An example of the theme is here,”It looked as if a night of dark intent/Was coming, and not only a night, an age”(Frost 10-11). Its saying that a time of destruction would pass, and there would be no slowing it down. Great imagery is shown here, “The clouds were low and hairy in the skies/like locks blown forward in the stream of eyes”(Frost 5-6). This shows imagery and a given example of a simile. Because of his outstanding use of figurative language he deservedly was awarded 4 main prizes (“Poet Robert Frost”). Since Frost is one of the most well known poets, there is no question that he was one of the greatest.

Robert Frost used great emotion, vivid wording, and figurative language that made his poems come alive. The line,”The clouds were low and hairy in the skies” shows great emotion while at the same time using fantastic imagery (Frost 5). Just this line shows how the clouds are dark. This quickly gives away the tone. Another example of good imagery is this line,“The shattered water made a misty din”(Frost 1). This line also uses amazing imagery, to have visible tone, imagery, and great wording, show how marvelous emotion he used in his pieces. With the use of wording and imagery he made the poem come alive. He also used a couplet rhyming scheme. The correct use and combination of these truly makes him an extravagant writer. He was also well acknowledged through his career.

Through life-changing events, Frost managed to write poems about his journeys through life, that helped him become a unique and deep writer. Frost used intricate emotion with the combination of excellent wording that made the poem almost life-like. He was and still is a worldwide known poet for many reasons. Frost conquered and used his obstacles to write wonderful pieces of poetry. There is much to be taken from Frost’s life, he suffered numerous barriers but with the help of God, he pushed through to become known. Even though there are tough times, he showed that it's important to stay in control.