ROBERT FROST AND THE

THEME OF HOPE AND LOSS

Robert Frost is one of the famous modern American poets. He lived between 1874

and 1963. His poetries have a unique style and the deep meaning which can attract the

readers. Furthermore, his poetry mostly introduces people with sadness and dramatic

situation. Like many poems, Robert Frost usually creates the poems which have their own

meaning and instead of directly explaining or describing the meaning, his poems urge the

readers to try to figure out the hidden message which he includes in his poems. As the same

as other famous or successful people, Robert Frost uses his mistake and loss in his life to be

the inspiration and power to move forward. In this essay, we will discuss how Robert Frost

uses the themes of loss and hope which are reflected his life in his works by using the

example of his poems which are Road Not Taken, Acquainted with the Night and Dust

of Snow

To begin with one of Frosts famous poems, Road Not Taken (Frost, 1916), this poem

represents the way he feels about many wrong decisions he made in his life:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

This stanza told us the story of a man walking in the yellow wood. Suddenly, he found a

crossroad where the paths are very similar at first, but he cannot foresee the whole path like

he cannot predict the future. This line represent the point in our life where we need to choose

the path to move on, but sometimes our choice is not as clear as it should, sometime it is hard

to choose one path and leave the others. Therefore, he need to choose by predicting the

possible outcomes for the path he chose as the standard. Moving on to the next stanza (Frost,

1916):
Robert Frost and the Theme of Hope and Loss Vitavas Kitiyanasap 5861175 1107

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same

This stanza states that, at the end, he is happy with the path he chose. These poems remind

the choice he made during his early life. He began to live and feed his family by farming on

the land his grandfather gave him. However, it was not successful or even be considered as a

failure. Nevertheless, he didnt give up his life but re-considered his purpose in life. He then

thinks of his most successful skill, which is about writing poems and literature like in the

poem where the main character chose the path where he or she thinks that it is the most

suitable. This was his first step to becoming the poets. After making new life goal, he began

to write poems and present it to many publishers, and later he becomes one of the most

popular poets of his period. For the end of the poem he (Frost, 1916) state that:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

This line indicates that his decision to follow his dream make and give a whole different life.

In the poems, he claim that sometimes life force people to choose. Sometimes the choices are

easy to decide, but sometimes they are very difficult to make the decision. Moreover,

sometimes, people chose to ignore the true characters of themselves which will lead to the

failure in their own life. However, he also stated if people decide to choose the proper path,

they might find the success.

Moving forward, his Acquainted with the Night (Frost, 1928) represent the many

losses in Frosts life. For the first stanza:

I have been one acquainted with the night.

I have walked out in rainand back in rain.

I have outwalked the furthest city light

These poems tell the story of a person who walks along during the night. This stanza

compare the night and darkness as the mistakes and losses which every person need to face

and accept it. The line which indicate that the main character is acquainted with the night

means that the main character used to face a lot of mistake and loss which now be the

common things in his or her life more than the city light which represent the happiness.

Moreover, he also state that sometimes the pain of loss can be explain, sometimes that pain

can cause us to be senseless to everything around us which, in the poem (Frost, 1928)

indicate that:

I have looked down the saddest city lane.

I have passed by the watchman on his beat

And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain

This stanza represent that sometimes we have saw or experience too much loss and pain.

Sometimes, it is too much for us and make us speechless to anything. Robert Frost had had to

face a great loss since his childhood. During his eleven years old, he lost his father because of

tuberculosis. Moreover, although he and his wife had many children together the solution of

each of his child didnt end up well; His first son died with of cholera in 1900, his second

son, Carol committed suicide in 1940, Irma later developed mental illness, Marjorie died in

her late 20s after giving birth, and Elinor died just weeks after she was born. However, in the

end of the poem, he (Frost, 1928) said that:

And further still at an unearthly height,

One luminary clock against the sky

Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right

I have been one acquainted with the night.

This stanza states that even in the darkest time there will always be the light of hope to direct

the way for who never give up like the moon during the night. Nevertheless, he also states

that sometimes people might lose something to gain something, it is not how the right or

wrong the life is, but it is the destiny that will guide us to the path we should go. For

example, after his father died, his family moved to the town of Lawrence, Massachusetts

where he met his future wife. Moreover, because of loss that came into people life, it makes

people to grow and becomes stronger if they never give up.

Finally, his Dust of Snow state that he finally finds out that there always be hope in

life. According to Frost (1936) in Dust of Snow:

The way a crow

Shook down on me

The dust of snow

From a hemlock tree

This poem compares the cold and snow as problems or sadness that would come to people

life, maybe once a year or once a month. No one knows when problems would come, but

everyone knows it must come. However, he wants people to think of the problem or any

struggle to be the same as the dust of snow which would come to your life and tried to harm

many people, but if they re-consider, the snow just made people feel cold and lonely, but it
Robert Frost and the Theme of Hope and Loss Vitavas Kitiyanasap 5861175 1107

can't kill them. The only thing people need to do is just calm down and slowly find the way

out. He do not let that struggle ruin your life, but just use your mind to blow it away like the

crow which shakes out the dust of snow. In the next stanza, he (Frost, 1936) also state that the

act of crow:

Has given my heart

A change of mood

This stanza state that at the end, he chose to see the world and life in the new perspective. He

tried to consider his life that he was like the crow which has the dust of snow cling on its

body. It can bring the coldness and sometimes the pain to his life, because of those dust of

snow that make him grow up know how to manage his life properly. Also in the end of the

poem, he (Frost, 1936) said that:

And saved some part

Of a day I had rued.

When he has passed all those struggle like the crow shook off the dust of snow, he should

gather all good part and lesson he has learned for looking and moving forward. He will

remember the day he made the mistake and use those mistake to remind himself that every

problem and mistake he had experience would be lesson make a better future in his life.

In conclusion, we can imagine and consider that the loss and hope are the main

themes of Robert Frosts poem according to Road Not Taken which he claims that he

finally finds the best solution for his life although he hesitated at the beginning. Furthermore,

Acquainted with the Night tells the readers that Robert Frost had to face many struggles,

but because of them, he grew up and became a strong heart person. Finally, Dust of Snow

claim that he found that there still be hope to every struggle. By reading these poems, they
Robert Frost and the Theme of Hope and Loss Vitavas Kitiyanasap 5861175 1107

give me the inspiration and hope that although we face many mistakes and problems, but if

we keep moving, we would find the success at the end.

Bibliography
FROST, R. (n.d.). Acquainted with the Night. Retrieved from
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/47548.

Frost, R. (n.d.). Dust of Snow. Retrieved from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-

FROST, R. (n.d.). The Road Not Taken. Retrieved from

Robert Forst. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.biography.com/people/robert-frost-20796091.