English Literature 9695

Frost's Presentation of Men and Women

Q. Referring Frost's two poems, discuss ways in which he presents men and women and the relationship between them in his poetry.

Frost's poems represent his observations. He has expressed his concerns about how relationships develop or break apart, and how both the human personas and nature contribute to it. He presents perspectives in such a way that the readers feel connected to the personas regardless of their gender or age. Thus Frost is able to present issues that are rarely brought up. The two poems that present these concerns are 'Two Look at Two' and 'Home Burial'.

In both 'Home Burial' and 'Two Look..' Frost has shown relationships falling apart. In the latter, Frost has painted the picture of a mountain and his personas trying to climb it, this symbolises struggle so the readers know there is a rift between the two personas. This rift is further cemented by the image of a broken wall that reflects their broken relationship. It can also represent an obstacle that the personas are trying to break in order to communicate their true feelings; it can even be acting as a mirror to allow them to reflect. Frost has expertly presented the nature of men and women as the doe and buck to reinforce his human personas. This evokes interest and also leads to deeper contemplation over the representation. The doe is shown to be fearless and perhaps pities the personas as it is presented that she sees them as a boulder split in half. This suggests that Frost considers women as brave and strong, yet soft hearted beings. Similarly in 'Home Burial' the woman is shown to be heartbroken over the death of her child. She is presented in an emotional light, but this soft-heartedness is contradicted by her fearlessness when she stands against her husband and leaves the house she perhaps feels caged in despite his threats and persuasion. Thus Frost illustrates women as peaceful beings that can move borders if provoked or forced into circumstances that make them show their stronger side.

Frost has presented men in a similar way. In 'Two Look..' the buck is shown as arrogant as seen by the descriptions of his antlers and snout. The buck also goes as far as to taunt the human personas' relationship. Similarly in 'Home Burial' the male persona comes off as arrogant maybe because he is unable to express himself. He seems demanding and emotionless probably because, like the buck, we are only viewing him from the outside. We see his mannerisms and what he says but we do not see what he is unable to speak from his heart, much like the antler is unable to express himself to the human personas. There is a clear communication barrier between them. Another similarity between the buck and the man in 'Home Burial' is how they follow their female mate or spouse. Only, the doe is content with the buck's company and they both stroll away together, but whenever the man seems to reach out for his wife in 'Home..' she is shown to push him further away. The reason may be that the man tries to force her to express herself and when she does, he does not agree with her opinions.

In the past the man in 'Home..' has buried his child with his own hands and is shown, in a flashback, to sit in the kitchen which is typically a woman's territory. He talks casually about fences, ironically as if he did not just bury his own offspring, but instead just came back from manual labour. It can be said that he does not give his wife space and does not understand how she needs to cope with her emotions. Frost has had to bury his own child and carry his friends' coffins, so perhaps he is showing the readers how men deal with grief differently from women rather than suggesting that the man in 'Home..' is arrogant. Instead of talking about it they tend to busy themselves in manual labour and try to forget about their grief. This allows the readers to not only sympathise with the male persona but also realise the need to give space to a person. They realise that everyone deals with grief differently so one should not come to fast conclusions of another being arrogant or emotionless.

In both 'Home Burial' and 'Two Look at Two' nature has a dominant role in how the relationships work out. Nature is seen to help the personas in 'Two Look..' as seeing the buck and doe, they probably visioned their own happy future together and decided to give their relationship another chance. In 'Home..' nature has taken their child away from them and they're shown to be in conflict because of that loss. In fact this conflict and power succession is illustrated by the image of stairs in their house. The one at the top end of the staircase is seen to be in authority of the situation, the personas change their positions on the staircase as the story progresses but ironically at the end the woman is not at the top of the stairs, but she holds authority by making the decision to leave. The man, on top of the staircase, perhaps feels helpless , unable to communicate with his wife and unable to stop her. Thus Frost portrays trying to have dominance over a relationship is fruitless while treating each other with as equals like the personas in 'Two Look..' have, leads to a fruitful, happy relationship.

Frost's intent is to perhaps convey the differences between men and women so they can understand each other better and understand that these differences do not make one better than the other. He shows how if a man and woman in a relationship work together they can be as strong as the boulder suggested in 'Two..' while if a man and do not overcome their differences they will surely end up as the personas in 'Home Burial' did, emotionally wounded and alone.