I love your analysis of this poem because it captures the magic (that is sometimes overlooked) of Frost as a narrative kind of poet. He loved blank verse, rhythmic meter, telling a story and captured realism in many of his works. As a modernist poet writing before the full swing confessional, free verse and at times political era of poetry of the 50s and 60s, I think he perfectly straddled the fence between traditional forms and purposes of poetry while still depicting a range of emotions and relatable situations that feel contemporary.
Thank you very much and I agree completely. He managed to exist consistently in the two worlds. His work was beautiful and accessible, but always rewarded a reread with fresh perspective. Prufrock ended up being more memorable for the pronounced eccentricities of Eliot's writing, but for my money North of Boston was an absolute pinnacle in narrative poetry a full year earlier.
I got stuck on punctuation. The (parenthesis) in the first section, the semi colon and the fact that the first stanza is basically 1 sentence, except the "--You come too." part, which I would want to use a comma there. Then he's talking about an interesting thing he's noticed, like that's what he wants to share.
[I didn't mean for that part to rhyme, but now I am just leaving it]
Frost was so disruptive in his work. So many unexpected rhyme and foot switches across his work. The punctuation of that first stanza definitely plays into that, I'd say. I honestly breezed by it, but that's more a flaw in my reading style than anything. Thanks for pointing out the extra layer.
Side note: I love parentheticals in poetry. They might be my single favorite thing.
Thanks. I would have read right past all that. One of the things I like about your responses to these is how you're talking about the structure of the poem to make it do what it does.
I love your analysis of this poem because it captures the magic (that is sometimes overlooked) of Frost as a narrative kind of poet. He loved blank verse, rhythmic meter, telling a story and captured realism in many of his works. As a modernist poet writing before the full swing confessional, free verse and at times political era of poetry of the 50s and 60s, I think he perfectly straddled the fence between traditional forms and purposes of poetry while still depicting a range of emotions and relatable situations that feel contemporary.
Thank you very much and I agree completely. He managed to exist consistently in the two worlds. His work was beautiful and accessible, but always rewarded a reread with fresh perspective. Prufrock ended up being more memorable for the pronounced eccentricities of Eliot's writing, but for my money North of Boston was an absolute pinnacle in narrative poetry a full year earlier.
I got stuck on punctuation. The (parenthesis) in the first section, the semi colon and the fact that the first stanza is basically 1 sentence, except the "--You come too." part, which I would want to use a comma there. Then he's talking about an interesting thing he's noticed, like that's what he wants to share.
[I didn't mean for that part to rhyme, but now I am just leaving it]
Frost was so disruptive in his work. So many unexpected rhyme and foot switches across his work. The punctuation of that first stanza definitely plays into that, I'd say. I honestly breezed by it, but that's more a flaw in my reading style than anything. Thanks for pointing out the extra layer.
Side note: I love parentheticals in poetry. They might be my single favorite thing.
Thanks. I would have read right past all that. One of the things I like about your responses to these is how you're talking about the structure of the poem to make it do what it does.
I appreciate the comment. I'm curious what you got out of it on first reading, if anything.
Period ate that up💅