Download pdf
The Complexity of "Tree" Imagery in Robert Frost's Poetry
- 1 Inner Mongolia University
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Robert Frost is often regarded as a highly esteemed poet within the realm of modern and current American literature. Frost’s poem appears straightforward but is actually quite intricate. Furthermore, Frost’s poetic works are characterised by a rich tapestry of imagery that adds to their overall intricacy. Moreover, Frost’s poetry exhibits a substantial presence of tree imagery. A variety of trees exhibit distinct behaviours, like falling to the ground, emitting sounds, or remaining in a state of quiet. Furthermore, these trees manifest diverse forms and dimensions. This study focuses on three selected poems by Frost, namely The Sound of the Trees, On a Tree Fallen Across the Road, and Tree at My Window. The objective is to examine the intricate employment of tree imagery in Frost’s poetry through the lens of analysing poetic imagery. Upon careful examination, it has been shown that the intricacy of the “tree” imagery in Frost’s poems can be attributed to two distinct factors. Initially, Frost undertakes a division of the “tree,” a whole entity, into two distinct components, each symbolising distinct concepts of liberation and restriction. This deliberate act enhances the depth of the underlying symbolism. Another factor to consider is that the depiction of “tree” is not fixed, but rather undergoes transformations as time progresses.
Keywords
Robert Frost, poetry, trees, imagery
[1]. Aslam, S., Aslam, B., Mukhtar, P., and Sarfaraz, A. (2014). Stylistics analysis of the poem Bereft by Robert Frost. European Journal of Research and Reflection in Arts and Humanities, 2(1), 1-5. Lakoff, R. (1975). Language and Women’s Place. New York: Harper and Row.
[2]. Shaikh, M. H., Arain, R., Naz, S., and Lashari, A. A. (2023). A Stylistic Analysis Of Robert Frost’s Poem Nothing Gold Can Stay. Journal of Positive School Psychology, 1522-1531.
[3]. Waggoner, H. H. (1941). The Humanistic Idealism of Robert Frost. American Literature, 13(3), 207-223.
[4]. Islam, G., and Zyphur, M. J. (2006). The sweetest dreams that labor knows: Robert Frost and the poetics of work. Management Decision, 44(4), 526-535.
[5]. Lentricchia, F. (1990). The Resentments of Robert Frost. American Literature, 62(2), 175–200.
[6]. Sharma, L.R. (2022). Analysis of figurative language in Robert Frost’s poem: Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening. International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Growth Evaluation.
[7]. Mahfouz, S. M. (2012). Painting with words: Imagery in selected poems by Robert Frost. Dirasat: Human and Social Sciences, 48(713), 1-28.
[8]. LIU Bao-an. (2017). On Plant Images in Frost’s Poetry. Journal of Tonghua Normal University, 38(5), 5.
[9]. Byrobertfaggen, E. (2001). THE CAMBRIDGE COMPANION TO ROBERT FROST. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
[10]. Rudolf Arnheim (1984). Art and Visual Perception. China-Social-Sciences-Press.
[11]. Frost, R.. (1969). Collected poems of robert frost. henry holt (Winter), 195.
[12]. Xiao Wu. (2001). The nature of symbol. system and function of poetic imageSymbolic, Systemic, and Functional Qualities of Poetic Imagery. Journal of Zhejiang University (Humanities and Social Sciences), 40(002), 112-120.
[13]. Frost, R.. (1969). Collected poems of robert frost. henry holt (Winter).
[14]. Oliver Tearle. A Short Analysis of Robert Frost’s ‘Tree at My Window’. 2020/05. 2023.8.22. https://interestingliterature.com.
Cite this article
Yi,T. (2023). The Complexity of "Tree" Imagery in Robert Frost's Poetry. Communications in Humanities Research,18,192-197.
Data availability
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.
Disclaimer/Publisher's Note
The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of EWA Publishing and/or the editor(s). EWA Publishing and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content.
About volume
Volume title: Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Interdisciplinary Humanities and Communication Studies
© 2024 by the author(s). Licensee EWA Publishing, Oxford, UK. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. Authors who
publish this series agree to the following terms:
1. Authors retain copyright and grant the series right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this
series.
2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the series's published
version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial
publication in this series.
3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and
during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See
Open access policy for details).