Dramatic Qualities in Fros's Poems -Robert Frost- Raakib Hussain

Dramatic Qualities in Frost's Poems

Robert Frost's genius is nearly dramatic. His poems exhibit his narrative and incredible skill. Frost's characters are individualized. He has created compelling drama in his poetry by using language the natural speech of New England.

Frost's dialogic poetics reveal human personal internal emotions and thoughts; translating modern artistic techniques into a poetic reality characterized by its distinctive aesthetics. Thus, contemporary literary criticism embraces a new set of critical approaches in poetic texts, such as poetic narrative, dialogic structure, dramatic structure, intertextuality, polyphony, the diversity of pronouns and voices

 Dramatic monologue, a poem written in the form of a speech of an individual character compresses into a single vivid scene a narrative sense of the speaker's history and psychological insight into his character.

 "Home Burial" is another poem that possesses dramatic qualities to a great extent. It presents an argument between a couple on how the husband dug the grave for their dead child. It involves long dialogues between Amy and her husband and reveals the character of both regarding the differences in their attitude toward their child's death. The poem's focus is on the portrayal of the character based on an intensely tense situation.

 

"The Birches" consists of beautiful pictures of nature and man and is lyric in content. But how the theme is rendered is dramatic. The sudden shifts in the imagery and the warmth of the human element give the poem a dramatic force and intensity.

 Frost's dramatic narratives have dramatic intensity produced by focusing on the moment of crisis. He has turned the living speech of men and women into poetry. His poems are people talking. Many of his poems seem to be the soliloquy of the poet or the speaker of the poem.

For Example; "The Road Not Taken" Closing lines---

 Two roads diverged in a wood, and I

I   took the one less traveled by,

 And that has made all the difference.

 The abrupt opening is undoubtedly a patent device of the dramatic and narrative form. The dramatic beginning consists of opening the narrative in the middle of things and critical in action.

"The Road Not Taken"

       Two roads diverged in a yellow wood

       And sorry I could not travel both…. 

"Mending Wall"

       Two roads diverged in a yellow wood

       And sorry I could not travel both….

"The Death of Hired Man"

The poem may be called a dramatic dialogue considering its theatrical qualities. The poem stated the death of an old servant in the house of his master, Warren. Warren and his wife Mary have sharply divided opinions about the senior servant Silas, and their views are diametrically opposite.

It vividly describes the human thoughts of Mary and the cruel feelings of Warren for Silas. There is little physical action.

The opening lines present the immediate situation: Warren was dissatisfied with Silas, who demanded some salary increase and refused. He left his job with Warren. So Warren does not desire that Silas should come back to him. Marry has sympathetic considerations for the old servant and is in favor of sheltering him.

In the course of their dispute, Warren Saying to Silas

"Home is the place where, when you have to go there/ They have to take you in."

But Marry immediately refutes by saying,

"I should have called it/Something you somehow haven't to deserve."

The tense situation involves intense arguments.

 Frost uses blank verse, which seems to be the fit instrument for the subject and the poem's theme.  He uses vigorous expression characteristic of his language. An essential quality of the diction is its clarity and concision.l His words are sensibly chosen with an eye to their sense and sound.

 Note: If anyone needs pdf just comment below