Barriers Between Men and Woman, Product of Nature or Society?: In Robert Frost’s Poetry.

James Hunter Morris

                                                                        Word count: 2296

Professor Fedors

Rhetoric 102

20 April 2015

Barriers Between Men and Woman, Product of Nature or Society?: In Robert Frost’s Poetry.

        There is a phenomenon found in the humanity in which its subsistence is unanimously recognized across the globe. In seemingly every culture and time period there has always existed a dislocation in corresponding understandings between a men and women in a relationship. The observance of this has led to common anecdotal phrases, such as, “men are from Mars and women are from Venus”. For millennia philosophers, historians, and poets have tried to understand and document the intricacies of this phenomenon in an attempt to narrow the barrier between the sexes. Robert Frost was poet who frequently aimed his creative lens at this subject. Frost’s poems “Love and a Question” and “Home Burial” are excellent illustrations of a situation where it becomes impossible for harmonious thought and understanding to be reached between lovers. Frost’s poems, “The Mending Wall”, “West-Running Brook”, and “Two look at Two” address the phenomenon in terms of its relationship to society and nature. These could be collectively interpreted to suggest that restrictions and barriers created by society exacerbate any natural tension between the sexes. Therefor, nature’s fight to break down these barriers in the poem could be construed as the personification of intent to elevate some of this tension.

The article “Place is the Asylum”: Women in nature and Robert Frost poetry”, published in 1987 by Katherine Kearns, professor at Louisiana school for math science and arts, reinforces this idea.  Kearn writes “women are powerful, active, magnetic in their madness, which is manifested in escape from the asylum of households into nature. Men are rendered impotent; they can only pursue unsuccessfully or withdraw into themselves” (191). This except describes a reoccurring precedence seen in Frost’s poetry. With the development of gender roles in society women were expected to be  “keepers, …dominate [of their] households. Their houses [were to] embody them”(191). Men were expected to protect their household, to stand guard and defend against treats from their fellow man and the natural world. Frost’s women live in a state of confinement, one that is separate from the outside world. It is for this reason that “Frost's men can no more fulfill their women than they can fill the houses with life and children, and so the women run away and the men follow [because they love and are dedicated to them]. Yet the pursuit is dangerous, for it leads into nature that is equally female and thus potentially deadly”(Kearns, 192). In Frost’s view society has taught men to protect their women from the dangers of the natural world because women possess the same unpredictability and “magnetic… madness” that makes nature so dangerous. It is in this widely accepted social construct that significantly widens the barrier between men and women. A man and woman living within the confines of this social normality are man and a woman that perceive their world from two completely different points of view. In this way it is easy to comprehend that when lovers are confronted with obstacles they must both overcome there is always the potential for the clashing of wills.      

In the poem “Love and a Question,” there is conflict between man and man, as well as man and woman.  According to Robert Frost’s wife, Elinor Frost, this poem describes “the dilemma a newly-married young farmer faces one cold evening when a tramp comes to his door and asks for shelter: should the farmer spoil his honeymoon by letting a stranger into his house?” (Katz 44). While the bridegroom would like to spend time with his new wife, he is also filled with pity for this stranger since no one else will help him.  There are two types of conflicting moral responsibilities in this poem: responsibility to his wife and a selfless moral responsibility to a soul in need, however these conflicting responsibilities stem from different sides of the same coin. There is underlying tension between both the bridegroom and his wife and the bridegroom and the stranger. The stranger in this poem represents mans eternal struggle in creating and maintaining a protective barrier between those he loves and the harshness of nature. According to Sandra Katz author of "Elinor Frost: A Poet's Wife”, Elinor Frost compares this poem to that of her own married life with Robert, and states that Robert desired to keep her and their love separate from the outside world (44).  Frost’s relationship with his wife is mirrored in this poem. It creates a barrier between harshness of the natural world and his relationship with his wife.