Frost Commentary: The Wood-Pile Quotes Commentary

4. What kinds of imagery and gurative language are used and to what effect? The bird is a symbol of purity within the poem. Frost uses the bird to represent the personication of natures realization that humans are trying to corrupt it. This is seen through the effort the speaker tries to enforce his thoughts on nature. Likewise, the bird is also follows the archetype of a bird to represent freedom. The bird has the freedom to y anywhere it wants. In contrast, the speaker is bound to earth and the path that he walks on in the woods as he ponders about life and its meaning. Here, Frost uses a personication of the snow to represent nature telling the man to look at his surroundings and not just wonder about himself but to notice the world around him. This is further justied through the grammatical shift in lines three where the speakers perspective shifted from I to we (line 3). This signies the beginning of the speakers evolvement with nature. This becomes signicant to the later setting when the speaker stumbles upon the wood pile and realizes that he was not the only human being to have ever been there. Frost uses imagery here to signify a change in perspective by the speaker. Prior to this, the speaker seems to be afraid of the frozen swamp. The speaker seems to fear the environment that surrounds him. This is seen through the beginning of the poem where the speaker contemplates whether or not to turn back, but ultimately decides not to. Prior to seeing the wood pile, the speaker was uneasy about his surroundings. However, after seeing the wood pile, the speaker becomes a bit more comfortable about his surroundings because he realizes that another human being was there prior to him. Ultimately, Frost uses the imagery of the wood pile here to signify a tone change within the poem.

A small bird ew before me (line 10)

The hard snow held me (line 4)

It was a cord of maple, cut and split/ And piledand measured, four by four by eight (lines 23-24)

Frost Commentary: The Wood-Pile 8. In what ways does the nal line/stanza change your understanding of the poem as a whole? The last line of the poem further addresses the theme of futility. From the speakers perspective, what is the point of chopping up and perfectly laying out wood for the replace if one is only going to abandon it? This then allows for further understanding of the beginning of the poem when the speaker is uneasy about the frozen swamp, but decides not to head back because through the theme of the futility of life, what would be the point in going back? The reader is ultimately able to speculate the thoughts of the speaker as the futility of life is prevalent throughout the entire poem. Here, the speakers revelation remains ambiguous. It is unsure whether realizes the meaning in his life or that he now has realized the cyclic nature in life. The cyclic nature in life is introduce through the only rhyming word from the end of the poem to the rst line of the poem. This suggests the cyclic nature of life, almost sinister in revelation. It is as if the speaker realizes the decay in his own life and that eventually he will decay and nature will take over. However, the last line of the poem is also the only line within the poem that contains any idea of warmth. Yet this warmth is juxtaposed against the frozen swamp and death. This warmth suggests to the reader that perhaps a re is starting to burn in the speakers mind, as if he is realizing something on his own, that there is futility in human life for which he ultimately experiences through nature.

Could so forget his handiwork on which/ He spent himself, the labor of his ax,/ And leave it there far from a useful replace (lines 36-38)

To warm the frozen swamp as best it could/ With the slow smokeless burning of decay (lines 39-40)

Frost Commentary: The Wood-Pile The nal line of the poem allows for the understanding of the cyclic nature of life within the poem as seen in towards the end of the poem. The original wood pile that man made is beginning to rot, The wood was gray and the bark warping off it/ And and because of the rotting, clematis grows on it. the pile was somewhat sunken. Clematis/ Had wound However although there is death, the clematis strings round and round it like a bundle (lines provides seeds for the birds, a representation of 29-31) freedom and life. Ironically, from the decay, it is actually warm enough to allow other trees to grow. This furthers the theme of the cyclic nature of life as introduced through the end of the poem. 15. What is the relationship between the speaker and the lanscape (or something else specic to the poem)? The speakers relationship with nature starts out extremely distant. The speaker only views nature Out walking in the frozen swamp one gray day (line wearily, almost as if it were a nuisance. Even the 1) speakers description of the world around him is gloomy, as if he has no specic outlook or expectation out of life and nature. The bird brings the relationship between the speaker and nature closer together. Now the speaker has taken an interest in his surroundings as the bird draws the speakers attention to the woodpile, which then introduces the idea of the theme of futility A small bird ew before me. He was careful/ To put a within the poem. The wood pile leads the speaker to tree between us when he lighted,/ And say no word to wonder why someone would go through all that effort tell me who he was (lines 10-12) of arranging the cord of wood only to abandon it. The cord of wood then brings the speaker further in tune with nature as he realizes not only is there the cyclic nature of life that is present, but also the theme of futility.

Frost Commentary: The Wood-Pile As the speaker further observes the cord of wood, he notices that it is beginning to rot, which ultimately allows clematis to grow around it. As the speakers The wood was gray and the bark warping off it/ And relationship with nature draws closer and closer, the the pile was somewhat sunken. Clematis/ Had wound reader sees the turmoil within the speaker as he strings round and round it like a bundle (lines contemplates the meaning to life. By the end of the 29-31) poem, it is evident that there is an introduction to the cyclic nature of life that is also paired with the futility of life. 23. What is the signicance of the speakers journey? The signicance of the speakers journey lies in the fact that it is seen at rst by the reader as an exploration of the wilderness on the speakers part. However, by the end of the poem, it is evident that the speakers journey into the frozen swamp was also an exploration to nd his true self. As the speaker progresses through the swamp, his physical exploration continues onwards, just as his inner exploration becomes more evident to the reader. When the speaker encounters the pile of wood, it is evident that he begins to contemplate internally the reasons and meaning behind the abandoned cord of wood. This then allows the reader to understand the speakers sense of confusion over the wood pile. The wood pile allows the reader to gain further perspective on the speakers point of of view on the outlook of life. By the end of the poem, there is evidence that the speaker has perhaps discovered something for himself about the futility of life along with the cyclic nature of it. However just at Frosts other poems, this poem ends in ambiguity, leaving the reader unsure whether the speaker has discovered something trues about life and himself.

I will turn back from here./ No, I will go on farther and we shall see (lines 2-3)

So as to say for certain I was here/ Or somewhere else: I was just far from home (lines 8-9)

Someone who lived in turning to fresh tasks/ Could so forget his handiwork (line 35-36)