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Poet: Robert Frost (Robert Frost Art)
Poem: 30.
Reluctance
Volume: A Boy's Will
Year: Published/Written in 1913
Poem of the Day:
Nov 25 2002
Comment 9 of 9, added on October 11th, 2009 at 10:09 PM.
For me, the power of this poem lies in this: Almost the whole poem is spent painting a vivid picture, creating an atmosphere of splendid seasonal melancholy. Only in the very last line does Frost twist the focus and thrust that feeling into the reader's heart like a knife.
Fran Sunderland from United States
Comment 8 of 9, added on March 5th, 2009 at 12:57 AM.
"Reluctance" speaks to the fact that everything will end, and in implies that endings in and of themselves should not be viewed in the pejorative as a rule. All change necessitates the premise that something has ended, yet here the title of the poem thrusts the concept of "reluctance" out of the void as it not mentioned within the body of the work. Frost argues that reluctance is the integral factor determining success or failure in the endeavor at hand. When stating, "I have walked..." he relays the concept of a journey which is now surely complete. Going further, dipping his brush in his favorite color from the palette, Frost invokes nature, reflecting man's reluctance to change in the paradoxically warm and cold picture of leaves, long since autumn, falling at last and blowing across the surface of the snow. Free will arises as the journey of the man ends, but his feet question "wither" or where to go. Often the case with Frost, here again he creates a labyrinth within a few short verses which ultimately leaves the reader with a compelling paradoxical reality. Reluctance may prolong the ending of an endeavor only to bring ill effects. Reluctance may induce the ending of an endeavor only to bring effects. Misery itself lies within the creature at home in this poem. He or she faces the end of something integral to his or her self. Concurrently, no replacement for this void is known, and he or she rightfully fears rebuke from society, as Frost calls it, endings being seen as "treason". The reluctant traveler in this work teaches us that change is not the enemy. Reluctance to change in equal measure with reluctance not to change leads to death.
Dennis Sayles from United States
Comment 7 of 9, added on January 1st, 2009 at 12:46 AM.
A spiritual perspective: Man was created to be an eternal being, able to eat freely from the Tree of Life. Relationships were supposed to last forever. After the Fall from grace, everything became temporary. Yes, it feels like treason, like a betrayal when things die. It was not supposed to be so. Everything in us rages against the dying of the light.
P Curtiss from United States
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Comments
For me, the power of this poem lies in this: Almost the whole poem is spent painting a vivid picture, creating an atmosphere of splendid seasonal melancholy. Only in the very last line does Frost twist the focus and thrust that feeling into the reader's heart like a knife.
Fran Sunderland from United States