Friday, April 22, 2011

Jacqueline Thornley:Robert Frost (Outside Reading #2)

As I’ve said before, I find beauty when I’m in nature. So for this post I thought I’d focus on another nature lover, Robert Frost. One of my favorite poems by Frost is called “Afterflakes.” The poem is mostly about Frost looking at the sky and the snow after a heavy snowfall. What particularly strikes me about this poem however, is that he contrasts the purity of fresh snow to the darkness in mankind. Instead of focusing on the pure, white snow, Frost actually focuses on his dark shadow against the snow. He looks to the sky to question why bad things happen on earth. I really think it makes an interesting observation of humankind. Instead of focusing on the beauty and goodness that surrounds us (all the white snow) we focus on that one, small dark spot (the shadow). The poem ends with him looking at the blue sky with the sun shining through, presumably overcoming his shadow and finding a peace within his surroundings.

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