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Poet: Robert Frost
Poem: 20.
Revelation
Volume: A Boy's Will
Year: Published/Written in 1913
Comment 4 of 4, added on May 17th, 2006 at 1:55 PM.
O.K. I don't think I've gotten to the bottom of this one yet, but I have a feeling that this poem is more about the seeker than the hider. The surface reading is that, yes, we create personas for ourselves, and therefore alienate ourselves from each other ("a place apart...afar...away"). Also, the speaker says that in the end, those of us who are too good at concealing ourselves are forced to "speak and tell us where they are." However, I think Frost thinks it unfortunate that the hider must give himself away. Think about hide and seek. The fun of the game is the power struggle, the difficulty of finding a good hider. What happens though, when someone is too good at hiding? The seeker says, "I give up. Where are you?" Unless the hider wants to be abandoned and left completely alone, he is forced to yell out, "I'm in the closet." This ruins the game, and takes away that exciting moment for both players when the discovery is made (the revelation!). The same goes for our personas. If we are always stating our literal feelings to try to "inspire the understanding of a friend," we are giving away our hiding places. The true joy in relationships is when we don't just give ourselves away, but we are found "really out." In other words, the moment of revelation can never happen if the hiders out themselves, and the seekers quit seeking. The same goes for God, this poem, and all mysteries. They hide themselves behind metaphor, for when the true seekers find them out, they are blessed with the bliss of revelation.
Jordan from United States
Comment 3 of 4, added on February 6th, 2006 at 2:32 PM.
I like the comments on this one. May I also recommend Frost's "Reluctance" to you? This poem reminds me of the Beatles' song, "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away," but it seems to contradict that title; the truth will out, and love will reveal and declare itself -- or so we wish. I do not hear triumph in this claim, just hopefulness. To "find us really out" is a great phrase, with its surprising, hopeful, stress on "really." Sadly, such opportunities to really find an "agitated heart" fail to prosper in many cases, and this reflection prevents my judging the poem naive.
The second stanza's abstract, academic, or legalistic structure, as a proposition (!) in a "case," demonstrates one way of hiding and avoiding connection. The "pity" that such a heart may need to literally say, "I love you" rings playfully and ironically for me, but the "Must speak..." may only be a condition for ending loneliness rather than an innate pressure or compulsion. In the ambiguity of Frost's intention, as I read it, and in his call for us to identify with both the hider and the finder, that I find a connection to personal doubts. I am grateful for the understanding of a friend, and that may be the deepest need of the heart.
John MacRae Fox from United States
Comment 2 of 4, added on November 30th, 2004 at 6:19 PM.
Two typos need fixed in the poem.
1st. section third line should read
"But oh, the agitated heart"
3rd section second line should read
"At hide-and-seek to God afar,"
Wendy from United States
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Comments
O.K. I don't think I've gotten to the bottom of this one yet, but I have a feeling that this poem is more about the seeker than the hider. The surface reading is that, yes, we create personas for ourselves, and therefore alienate ourselves from each other ("a place apart...afar...away"). Also, the speaker says that in the end, those of us who are too good at concealing ourselves are forced to "speak and tell us where they are." However, I think Frost thinks it unfortunate that the hider must give himself away. Think about hide and seek. The fun of the game is the power struggle, the difficulty of finding a good hider. What happens though, when someone is too good at hiding? The seeker says, "I give up. Where are you?" Unless the hider wants to be abandoned and left completely alone, he is forced to yell out, "I'm in the closet." This ruins the game, and takes away that exciting moment for both players when the discovery is made (the revelation!). The same goes for our personas. If we are always stating our literal feelings to try to "inspire the understanding of a friend," we are giving away our hiding places. The true joy in relationships is when we don't just give ourselves away, but we are found "really out." In other words, the moment of revelation can never happen if the hiders out themselves, and the seekers quit seeking. The same goes for God, this poem, and all mysteries. They hide themselves behind metaphor, for when the true seekers find them out, they are blessed with the bliss of revelation.
Jordan from United States