PEOPLE IN AMERICA - Robert Frost, Pt. Two

PEOPLE IN AMERICA - Robert Frost, Pt. Two
By Richard Thorman

Broadcast: Sunday, February 08, 2004

(THEME)

VOICE ONE:

I'm Rich Kleinfeldt.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Shirley Griffith with the VOA Special English program, People in America. Today we finish the story of Robert Frost and his poetry.

(THEME)

VOICE ONE:

 
Graphic¹ Image
When Robert Frost left the United States in nineteen-twelve he was an unknown writer. When he returned from Britain three years later he was on his way to becoming one of America's most honored writers. Publishers who had rejected his books now competed against each other to publish them.

Unlike many poets of his time Frost wrote in traditional forms. He said that not using them was like playing a game that had no rules. He joined the rules of the form with the naturalness of common speech. Other poets before him had tried to do this, but none with Frost's skill.

VOICE TWO:

The common speech Frost used had the words and way of speaking that could be easily seen as American. For example, a poem called "The Death of the Hired Man" begins:

NARRATOR:

Mary sat musing² on the lamp-flame at the table

Waiting for Warren. When she heard his step,

She ran on tip-toe down the darkened passage

To meet him in the doorway³ with the news

And put him on his guard. 'Silas is back.'

 
Graphic Image
Frost is telling a story about an old farm worker named Silas. The discussion between Warren and Mary continues:

NARRATOR:

She pushed him outward with her through the door

And shut it after her. 'Be kind,' she said.

She took the market things from Warren's arms

And set them on the porch⁴, then drew him down

To sit beside her on the wooden steps.

VOICE TWO:

Warren says:

NARRATOR:

'When was I ever anything but kind to him.

But I'll not have the fellow back,' he said.

'I told him so last haying, didn't I?

If he left then, I said, that ended it. '

VOICE TWO:

And Mary says:

NARRATOR:

'He's worn out. He's asleep beside the stove.

When I came up from Rowe's I found him here,

Huddled⁵ against the barn-door fast asleep. . . .

VOICE ONE:

Through the discussion between Warren and Mary the reader discovers more and more about Silas. In some ways he is a good worker, but he usually disappears when he is most needed. He does not earn much money. He has his own ideas about the way farm work should be done. And he has his own ideas about himself. Instead of asking for help from his rich brother, Silas has come to Warren and Mary. She says:

NARRATOR:

... He has come home to die:

You needn't be afraid he'll leave you this time. '

'Home,' He mocked⁶ gently.

VOICE ONE:

She answers:

NARRATOR:

'Yes, what else but home?

'Home is the place where, when you go there,

They have to take you in. '

VOICE ONE:

Without ever having Silas speak, Frost has made the reader know this tired old man, who has come to die in the only home he has. In the final lines of the poem the story of Silas is completed. Mary says:

NARRATOR:

'I made the bed up for him there tonight.

You'll be surprised at him--how much he's broken.

His working days are done; I'm sure of it.

Go, look, see for yourself. '

Warren returned--too soon, it seemed to her,

Slipped to her side, caught up her hand and waited.

'Warren?' she questioned.

'Dead,' was all he answered.

VOICE ONE:

The poem tells of the understanding that Mary and Warren have for a man who has worked for them for many years. The poem also presents a sadness that Frost repeats many times.

VOICE TWO:

Frost was like an earlier New England writer and thinker, Ralph Waldo Emerson. They never were good at joining others in programs or movements. Frost was politically conservative⁷ and avoided movements of the left or right. He did this not because he did not support their beliefs, but because they were group projects.

In the poem "Mending Wall" the speaker and his neighbor walk together along a wall, repairing the damage caused by winter weather:

NARRATOR:

Something there is that doesn't love a wall,

That sends the frozen⁸-ground-swell under it,

And spills the upper boulders⁹ in the sun;

And makes gaps even two can pass abreast¹⁰.

No one has seen them made or heard them made,

But at spring mending time we find them there.

I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;

And on a day we meet and walk the line

And set the wall between us once again.

We keep the wall between us as we go.

VOICE TWO:

The speaker questions his neighbor who says, "Good fences make good neighbors. " The speaker says:

NARRATOR:

Before I built a wall I'd ask to know

What I was walling in or walling out,

And to whom I was like to give offense¹¹.

VOICE ONE:

Frost's later poetry shows little change or development from his earlier writing. It confirms what he had established in such early books as ?North of Boston.? For example, a poem called "Birches," written in nineteen-sixteen begins:

NARRATOR:

When I see birches bend to left and right

Across the lines of straighter darker trees,

I like to think some boy's been swinging them.

But swinging doesn't bend them down to stay

As ice storms do.

VOICE ONE:

And it ends:

NARRATOR:

I'd like to go by climbing a birch tree,

And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk

Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more,

But dipped its top and set me down again.

That would be good both going and coming back.

One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.

VOICE TWO:

In the nature poems there is often a comparison between what the poet sees and what he feels. It is what Frost in one poem calls the difference between "outer and inner weather. " Under the common speech of the person saying the poem is a dark picture of the world. In "The Road Not Taken" he says:

NARRATOR:

Two roads diverged¹² in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent¹³ in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy¹⁴ and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden¹⁵ black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

VOICE ONE:

Among Frost's nature poems, there are more about winter than about any other season. Even the poems about spring, autumn, or summer remember winter. They are not poems about happiness found in nature. They are moments of resistance to time and its changes. And even the poems that tell stories are mainly pictures of people who are alone.

Frost shared with Emerson the idea that everybody was a separate individual, and that groups weakened individuals. But where Emerson and those who followed him looked at God and saw a creator, Frost saw what he says is "no expression, nothing to express. " Frost sees the world as a "desert place. "

In a poem called "Desert Places," he says:

NARRATOR:

Snow falling and night falling fast, oh, fast

In a field I looked into going past,

And the ground almost covered smooth in snow,

But a few weeds and stubble showing last.

The woods around it have it--it is theirs.

All animals are smothered¹⁶ in their lairs¹⁷.

I am too absent-spirited to count;

The loneliness includes me unawares.

And lonely as it is that loneliness

Will be more lonely ere it will be less--

A blanker whiteness of benighted¹⁸ snow

With no expression, nothing to express.

They cannot scare me with their empty spaces

Between stars--on stars where no human race is.

I have it in me so much nearer home

To scare myself with my own desert places.

VOICE TWO:

Frost received almost every honor a writer could receive. He won the Pulitzer Prize for literature four times. In nineteen-sixty, Congress voted Frost a gold medal for what he had given to the culture of the United States.

In the last years of his life, Frost was no longer producing great poetry, but he represented the value of poetry in human life. He often taught, and he gave talks. Usually he would be asked to read his best known poem, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening:"

NARRATOR:

Whose woods these are I think I know

His house is in the village though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer¹⁹

To stop without a farmhouse²⁰ near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound's the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake²¹.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

VOICE ONE:

Robert Frost died in nineteen-sixty-three. He had lived for almost one-hundred years, and had covered many miles before he slept, many miles before he slept.

(THEME)

VOICE TWO:

This VOA Special English program, People in America, was written by Richard Thorman and produced by Lawan Davis. Robert Frost's poetry was read by Shep O'Neal. Your narrators were Rich Kleinfeldt and Shirley Griffith.

1 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

2 musing   

n. 沉思，冥想 adj. 沉思的, 冥想的 动词muse的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• "At Tellson's banking-house at nine," he said, with a musing face. “九点在台尔森银行大厦见面，”他想道。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记
• She put the jacket away, and stood by musing a minute. 她把那件上衣放到一边，站着沉思了一会儿。

3 doorway   

n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径

参考例句：

• They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
• Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。

4 porch   

n.门廊，入口处，走廊，游廊

参考例句：

• There are thousands of pages of advertising on our porch.有成千上万页广告堆在我们的门廊上。
• The porch is supported by six immense pillars.门廊由六根大柱子支撑着。

5 huddled   

挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• We huddled together for warmth. 我们挤在一块取暖。
• We huddled together to keep warm. 我们挤在一起来保暖。

6 mocked   

愚弄，嘲弄( mock的过去式和过去分词 )； 使受挫折； 不尊重，蔑视

参考例句：

• Those who mock history will be mocked by history. 嘲弄历史的人必将被历史所嘲弄。
• The river mocked all the enemy's efforts to cross. 敌人作了一切努力还是没能过河。

7 conservative   

adj.保守的，守旧的；n.保守的人，保守派

参考例句：

• He is a conservative member of the church.他是一个守旧教会教友。
• The young man is very conservative.这个年轻人很守旧。

8 frozen   

adj.冻结的，冰冻的

参考例句：

• He was frozen to death on a snowing night.在一个风雪的晚上，他被冻死了。
• The weather is cold and the ground is frozen.天寒地冻。

9 boulders   

n.卵石( boulder的名词复数 )；巨砾；（受水或天气侵蚀而成的）巨石；漂砾

参考例句：

• Seals basked on boulders in a flat calm. 海面风平浪静，海豹在巨石上晒太阳。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The river takes a headlong plunge into a maelstrom of rocks and boulders. 河水急流而下，入一个漂砾的漩涡中。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 abreast   

adv.并排地；跟上(时代)的步伐，与…并进地

参考例句：

• She kept abreast with the flood of communications that had poured in.她及时回复如雪片般飞来的大批信件。
• We can't keep abreast of the developing situation unless we study harder.我们如果不加强学习，就会跟不上形势。

11 offense   

n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪

参考例句：

• I hope you will not take any offense at my words. 对我讲的话请别见怪。
• His words gave great offense to everybody present.他的发言冲犯了在场的所有人。

12 diverged   

分开( diverge的过去式和过去分词 )； 偏离； 分歧； 分道扬镳

参考例句：

• Who knows when we'll meet again? 不知几时咱们能再见面！
• At what time do you get up? 你几时起床？

13 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

14 grassy   

adj.盖满草的；长满草的

参考例句：

• They sat and had their lunch on a grassy hillside.他们坐在长满草的山坡上吃午饭。
• Cattle move freely across the grassy plain.牛群自由自在地走过草原。

15 trodden   

v.踩，踏( tread的过去分词 )；踩成；踏出；步行于

参考例句：

• The people have been trodden down for too long. 人民受践踏的时间太久了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The cattle had trodden a path to the pond. 牛群踏出了一条通往池塘的小径。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

16 smothered   

（使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制

参考例句：

• He smothered the baby with a pillow. 他用枕头把婴儿闷死了。
• The fire is smothered by ashes. 火被灰闷熄了。

17 lairs   

n.（野兽的）巢穴，窝( lair的名词复数 )；（人的）藏身处

参考例句：

• Beholders usually carve out underground lairs for themselves using their disintegrate rays. 眼魔经常用它们的解离射线雕刻自己的地底巢穴。 来自互联网
• All animals are smothered in their lairs. 所有的小生灵都躲在巢穴里冬眠。 来自互联网

18 benighted   

adj.蒙昧的

参考例句：

• Listen to both sides and you will be enlightened,heed only one side and you will be benighted.兼听则明，偏信则暗。
• Famine hit that benighted country once more.饥荒再次席卷了那个蒙昧的国家。

19 queer   

adj.奇怪的，异常的，不舒服的，眩晕的

参考例句：

• I heard some queer footsteps.我听到某种可疑的脚步声。
• She has been queer lately.她最近身体不舒服。

20 farmhouse   

n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房）

参考例句：

• We fell for the farmhouse as soon as we saw it.我们对那所农舍一见倾心。
• We put up for the night at a farmhouse.我们在一间农舍投宿了一夜。

21 flake   

v.使成薄片；雪片般落下；n.薄片

参考例句：

• Drain the salmon,discard the skin,crush the bones and flake the salmon with a fork.将鲑鱼沥干，去表皮，粉碎鱼骨并用餐叉子将鱼肉切成小薄片状。
• The paint's beginning to flake.油漆开始剥落了。