On Grief and Reason - Ethan Cade
Joseph Brodsky, in his article On Grief and Reason, analyses Robert Frost's more darker attributes in his poems "Come In" and "Home Burial", and the meaning of the poems as a whole. Brodsky notes that such darker poems are uncharacteristic of Frost, whom Brodsky refers to as "a folksy, crusty, wisecracking old gentleman farmer, generally of a positive disposition.", and that Frost's poems generally do not contain as much depth as these two, thus leading Brodsky to ask why these two are different. Brodsky's explanation for this is the difference between American and European poet's take on nature, for while a European may look at a tree and see a shared history and can create a story of its past, and have a generally positive view of nature and life, while an American views nature as not "friend or foe" but as "a meeting of equals. Man and tree face each other in their respective primal power...", and an American sees no past in nature, only the potential future, which Brodsky says makes Americans come back from their encounter with nature "In a state of Bewilderment, to say the least, if not in actual shock or terror." Brodsky supports this notion with evidence from the poems showing how Frost is indeed more terrified of nature and life than most realise, and shows this though an in-depth analysis of each poem, lifting a curtain to the reader to unveil a darker side to this jovial folksy gentleman farmer. I buy into Bordsky's ideas for the most part, for I do feel that Frost most certainly had some darker emotions which came out onto his work, especially in "Home Burial", yet at the same time I feel as though there was still light in his poems, especially in "Come In", which while it is most certainly about death, it does not paint death as a dark, terrifying thing, but rather as something that which he will one day be unable to resist, yet for now he must because life still has lustre for him. This essay has still expanded my understanding of Frost, and what struck me most was how Brodsky was able to articulate each of his points well and thoroughly, yet not so much as to over-do it.
The outlook for Americans is very simplified compared to Europeans. The Europeans way of looking at things is an interesting perspective but sometimes you do not need the complication of things and all the details because just simply what it is, is enough to make a point and I think that is kinda of how some Americans see it. Americans also do not have to live in the world of war as much as Europeans do, their homes are the battlefield or very close to them so they get a whole different perspective we cannot see. Maybe that is why when they write they go into the history more than us.
ReplyDeleteThat is a very interesting take regarding the American view of nature. It makes sense regarding modern history (If that's not an oxymoron). Europe has been more or less as developed as it will be since the time of colonization, whereas Americans, by virtue of colonization, were just getting started. So Europe's horror stories, which center around the unknown, would be in an urban environment, where strange people live, but for America, the unknown was literally forty feet west behind tall menacing trees, just like what Frost describes.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with your take on how Brodsky views nature for Americans and Europeans respectively. The European view probably stems from Europe's long literary history, as Brodsky mentions in the article, and the American view may well stem from the culture of America as it developed separate from the influences of Europe. I also love the point you made about how Frost's poetry may well contain a dark subject matter but that it is not inherently dark because of it as Brodsky would claim.
ReplyDeleteIt is definitely fascinating how Brodsky compares the stylistic approaches of American and European poets. From Brodsky's standpoint, Frost is an all-American American, however he definitely has the capabilities of analyzing nature in such a way as to mimic that of a European. It is very evident and noteworthy just how differently the strokes of death were painted in each poem.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the poems are not wholly dark, even though they present dark themes and elements. It would be a bit of a fallacy to assume that just because the subject is death the poem necessarily presents a negative outlook or overall message. The dark bits may be windows into the picture, but they aren't the whole thing. As an aside, it is interesting to think of how views of nature have evolved over time and with certain authors it is possible to pinpoint roughly what time period or part of the world they came from.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I really appreciate that you wrote about something different than most of us. I didn't really go back to think more about this section because I became too focused on the latter part of the essay. You made a comment about how Brodsky describes the different ways Americans and Europeans experience nature; Americans tend to come back from these experiences with a sense of terror and bewilderment. I would argue that, based on Frost's "Come In," Americans are not truly afraid of nature as much as they are afraid of the uncertainty that comes with it. Life and nature do not owe us anything, which can cause unease and discomfort, but I wouldn't say true terror.
ReplyDeleteI simply love your writing of, "lifting a curtain to the reader to unveil a darker side to this jovial folksy gentleman farmer," because that is a perfect summation of Brodsky's essay. He is trying to show the world that people are not necessarily as they seem on the surface, and that shows through their writing. The idea that a person's inner feelings and desires can be extracted from this style of emotion based writing is amazing, and somewhat terrifying that people are able to dissect others based on what they at one point put on paper.
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