Comment 7 of 7, added on April 26th, 2006 at 12:42 PM.

This poem is addressing the futility of vain accomplishments, particularly concerning a woman's fading beauty. The speaker calls for early termination of life as a better fate than ending life in humiliation as a "withered hag" washing steps. I can't totally decide if this is done in sarcasm as a warning against vain aspirations or not. In many of Frosts poems he is very unhappy with the world and generally doesn't express advocation for eternal aspirations ("Stopping by Woods...", "Acquainted with the Night", "Design", "Birches"). It wouldn't be out of the question for this poem to be a sincere statement of how Frost sees things or saw things at one time.

Jonathan Byram from United States

Comment 5 of 7, added on November 1st, 2005 at 11:31 PM.

Decide, Decide

When Robert Frost wrote the poem “Provide, Provide” I think what he meant to say was decide, decide. Your probably asking yourself: decide what? To decide what type of life you wish to die. Throughout life you are given many choices. The decisions that you make during the course of your life will change the way you live your final minutes. Whether, you want to spend your closing hour at peace or with disappointment in yourself. Robert Frost is saying that you have to provide yourself with the life you want to die with by making sure you make the right decisions early on. If you think dieing with a lot of money is more important than family and friends, than you should make sure that happens for you. And vice versa if you want to die knowing that you lived a life filled friendships and love. Whichever path you choose to take, make sure it’s the one you want to live with and die with.

In the poem Provide, Provide, Robert Frost shows a few examples of what kind of life you may live. You can be born a beautiful woman and die a haggish witch. You can rule the economy and be the richest person in the world but end your life with fake friends by your side. You can become a kind or queen and viewed by your people as a majestic g-d but die as a no one all alone. In the third stanza Frost writes: “Make up your mind to die in state.” Meaning you should take control of your destiny and the mental state in which you die.

The fifth stanza Frost writes: “What worked for them might work for you.” Meaning you can look at people before you, to take example if that’s the way you want to live and die. But once again everything comes down to the decisions you make which shape your life. If you think that the meaning of life is to be rich and famous, than make the decisions and put your efforts into making that come about. If all you wish for is to live life for your family than you should stay loyal and true to yourself. Throughout the poem Frost is providing you with the philosophy or how to be happy. He’s not saying that you have to be this or that just to be your true self.

Frost ends his poem with what I believe is a sarcastic stanza: “Better to go down dignified With boughten friendship at your side Than none at all. Provide, provide!”
Frost is saying, that you try in life to provide yourself with the life you want, but if you find out that in the end you have failed, you may end up providing yourself with a fake version of how you wanted to end. Frost’s poem Provide, Provide makes you think of what kind of life you wish to provide yourself, by making the right decisions in life. Maybe you don’t want to be a Hollywood star. Maybe you just want to be a stay at home mom devoting your life your family. Everyone’s life is different and no life should be criticized for the decisions which one makes.


Anthony from Russia