Here come the line-gang pioneering by,
They throw a forest down less cut than broken.
They plant dead trees for living, and the dead
They string together with a living thread.
They string an instrument against the sky
Wherein words whether beaten out or spoken
Will run as hushed as when they were a thought
But in no hush they string it: they go past
With shouts afar to pull the cable taught,
To hold it hard until they make it fast,
To ease away–they have it. With a laugh,
An oath of towns that set the wild at naught
They bring the telephone and telegraph.
The Line-Gang
Analysis, meaning and summary of Robert Frost's poem The Line-Gang
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Um could you tell me the meaning of fast in the line To hold it hard until they make it fast
this poem reflects the anxiety felt by Frost in terms of urban expansion. The necessary evils of progress and technology are contrasted with the death of the natural world at the hands of men. It’s a double edge sword in that we create and destruct the environment around us for the sake of our own attempts at creating a world that is connected but detached from the very thing that sustains us. The line gang expresses a universal fear of progress and the consequences of technological advances. Alienation, anxiety and fear comprise this short poem and gives us a look into our own era in which leaps and bounds are made daily for the advancement of humanity. But we are left with more questions than answers in terms of what kind of future we’re building.
Jen you saved me thanks so much love SBC 2023
Frost in his poem “The Line Gang” from his book “Western Interval” laments the destruction of the forests “less
cut than broken” by the “gangs” putting up telephone and telegraph poles. “plant dead trees(poles)for the living and the dead” He decries these boisterous vulgar workmen who destroy the beauty of the wild he foresees towns which will suplant the wilds. His use of the negative spurrious lexical term gang asserts his opinion. Frost pleads his case against unplanned changing times In the folowing poem his fears are expressed.
Changing Horizons
Now too much depends
On crowding
Littered backyards
And electronics
Straight back
And easy chairs
Soft mattresses
And winding stairs
Deeds of Violence
Too little depends on
Pausing
Listenng to silence
Migrating fauna and
Gazing at the horizons
Shimon Weinroth