Pragmatism In The Poetry Of Robert Frost

As one of the most influential modern poets,Robert Frost writes his poetry in verysimple language but with deep philosophical wisdom.About his poetic idea,“A poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom” has caused a lot of scholarly discussions.He is called “farmer poet” by some researchers,however some see the dark part of his poetry and call him the“terrifying and tragic” poet.The extremely opposite opinions towards Frost occur for the deficiency of researches on the philosophical source of his poetry.Then some of the scholars pay their attentions to Pragmatism,which is proved an influential philosophical source to Frost.However,the connections of his poetic ideas,poetry and Pragmatism,as well as the elements of Pragmatism in his poetry have not been figured out.Therefore,under the guidance of Pragmatism theory and with the method of comparative analysis,this thesis shall penetrate into Pragmatism in Frost's poetry to solve the problems of previous studies.This thesis is comprised of three parts,namely introduction,body and conclusion.At beginning,introduction provides briefly literature review of William James' s Pragmatism and poetic ideas of Robert Frost,methodology,research questions and thesis structure.Chapter one discusses Pragmatic wisdom in Frost's poetry.Two characteristics of Pragmatic Truth will be analyzed in Frost's poetry and poetic ideas.Pragmatic wisdom is dynamic and reconcilable accordingly,which means it changes with the actual development of process and takes every element into account.This chapter aims at proving that Frost is influenced by James' s Pragmatism of dynamic and reconcilable Pragmatic wisdom.Chapter two concerns with Pragmatic Pluralism in Frost's poetry including plural system and plural purpose.In contrast with Absolute One and Absolute Many,Pragmatic Pluralism considers the world as a plural system with every element connecting and changing with plural purpose.Frost sees the connection between man and nature deeply.Man is not isolated and has plural purpose,making the world a pragmatic plural system.Chapter three focuses on Pragmatic Humanism in the poetry of Robert Frost.In Frost's view,human has power and the world is plastic.However,instead of controlling nature,Frost recognizes that man limits in power and should respect nature.Nevertheless,man still has free will to change the world rather than merely observe it.Man is “small but powerful” in Frost's poetry which proves that Frost believes in Pragmatic Humanism.In conclusion,this thesis mainly deals with Pragmatism in the poetry of Robert Frost.Pragmatic wisdom,Pragmatic Pluralism and Pragmatic Humanism are practiced in his poetryand poetic ideas.In Frost's poetry,Pragmatic wisdom is dynamic and reconcilable with the actual circumstances;the world is a plural system with plural purpose;and the world is plastic,though human power is limited compared with nature.Pragmatism is not only the essential practice in Frost's poetic ideas and poetry,but also his need for living.“A poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom” refers to Pragmatism in the poetry of Robert Frost.