An Analysis Of The Cultural Origin Of Frost’s Poetry

Robert Frost enjoys a unique status in American literature. Being the symbol of American culture, he is deeply admired by American people and honored as American national poet. Frost’s poetry is deeply rooted in New England culture. He tends to take the rural life and natural scenery of New England as background, thus endowing his poetry with strong local colors. Previously, the studies of Frost were mainly limited in the study of poetry theme, writing techniques, the analysis of ecological view of nature and the comparative studies with other poets. The study of the cultural foundation of Frost’s poetry has not gotten enough attention and systematic research yet.This paper aims to dig the ideological sources of Frost’s poetry and reveal the impact of New England culture on him, based on the exploration of the theme and artistic features of his poems. As a poet as well as a farmer living in the turn of the century, Frost witnesses the decline of agriculture and the invasion of industry and experiences the shock brought by the collapse of traditional values. Meanwhile, he observes and ponders the fate of human beings and the meaning of life, exploring the inheritance and innovation of artistic forms, and the relationship between traditional forms and modern contents tirelessly. Frost has ever said,“No regionalism, no universality”. His poems are rooted in New England, however the meanings are worldwide. Also in the turn of the century, also facing the challenge of modernization, we can benefit a lot from the research on Frost’s poetry.This paper explores the cultural foundation of Frost’s poetry through the analysis of its artistic features. This paper consists of three parts, an introduction, three chapters of the main body and a conclusion.The first part mainly clarifies the topic of this thesis and its significance after introducing the domestic and foreign research results.The second part consists of three chapters.The first chapter illustrates the theme of Frost’s poetry. The pondering of the relationship between man and nature and the questioning of the meaning of life constitute the main theme of Frost’s poetry. In his poems, Frost shapes a complete nature, showing a mature mode of the coexistence of man and nature. Throughout his poems, the communication between man and nature occurs mainly in three aspects: nature’s beauty to man, humans’ love, and a combination of nature and humans’ labor. His pastoral poems always can cause resonance of people, inspire their love for nature, and extends it to the love of life. Frost’s poems are never limited to the description of nature, but contain profound philosophical wisdom and deep thinking of the meaning of life. Frost believes that life is short, so people should cherish life, take responsibilities and achieve the value of life.The second chapter analyzes the artistic features of Frost’s poetry from three aspects: the natural scenery, characters, and the use of language. Many of Frost’s poems are about nature and the customs and habits of countryside. Most of the images demonstrated in his poems come from the beautiful nature of New England. He tends to use the images of ordinary and hard-working farmers as the main characters in his poetry. Besides, he favors using simple colloquial language of New England to express his feelings and experience and his views of the real world. The greatest charm of Frost’s poetry is that it appears natural, direct and simple, but implies profound content. In pursuit of these artistic features of poetry, this kind of implement forms a unique feature of Frost in the history of American poetry.The third chapter analyzes cultural foundation of Frost’s poetry. His poems are deeply affected by New England culture. This chapter discusses the cultural origins from three aspects, the influence of Puritanism, the influence of Transcendentalism, and the influence of views of nature. Puritanism culture of New England has a profound impact on Frost’s poetry. The ideas reflected in his poems are exactly the same with what Puritanism advocates, such as taking responsibilities and obligations, being strict with self, working hard and getting self-redemption. Transcendentalism’s impacts on Frost’s poetry are also very obvious and clear. Transcendentalists advocate that poetry is the carrier and symbol of the world and our spirit. They believe that each ordinary people have the potential and talent. All these ideas can be traced in Frost’s poetry. In addition, Frost is also deeply inspired by Emerson’s views of nature. He spiritualizes nature in his poems as what Emerson does, thus making the readers recognize the law of nature and the principle of universe when reading his poetry. However, Frost is not limited to the inherences of Emerson’s views of nature. In his poems, nature not only demonstrates the beauty and kindness, it also shows the dark and cruel side to people. Hence, he presents relatively mature views of nature.The third part is the conclusion of the thesis. This part summarizes the promotion and influences of Frost’s poetry on the localization of American culture, and reveals its contemporary significance. Frost’s poetry expresses American national spirit and represents Native American culture. Frost’s concerns about the relationship between man and nature and his questioning of the meaning of life have guiding significance for modern people.