Frosts sense :: essays research papers

Frosts SenseRobert Frost has a certain theory. That a sentence has an overall run short and that word may be interpreted out and the sound analyzed. The theory is Frosts Sound of Sense. Or I like to say, that you may sense the sound of a sentence, with a dim-witted little trick. Put your hand over your mouth and speak the sentence, pay attention to the muffled sound instead of the words being spoken. That would be the sound of sense. This paper is an introduction to this theory along with an analysis of a Frost poem I feel articulates this well.The poem that I have chosen is taken from his later years, after he first came up with this theory. While Frost was up in a mountain interval in 23, I reckon his imagination started to stray. This may be how the poem, Browns Decent started. It starts, BROWN lived at such a lofty farmThat everyone for miles could seeHis lantern when he did his projectIn winter after half-past three. Meaning there was a farmer, in an extremely high vantage, with a farm high in view of a town below. This is a simple rhyme poem with and a simpler A-B-C-B style. Yet the roll of the words and the fluidity of the story make it a perfect compositors case for the sound of sense. Try using the hand method to get a sense of the sound here. In the second rhyming section we see deuce great examples as Brown goes about his chores, And many must have seen him make. And, Cross lots, cross walls, cross everything, The second here is an unusual stammering descriptive sentence that we see imitated later in the poem to add consistency and texture.The poem goes on to detail Browns accident and fall, and as he is sliding down the mountainside we once more get a feeling that he is intentionally using certain words to add a sound to the sentence he wants custom. Sometimes he came with arms outspread/ Like wings, revolving in the scene. There is a section of four rhyme sets describing the fall. These are all blended together to flow dampen and increase te nsion and concentration. Sixteen lines in total, I believe this is the most entertaining part of the poem. Towards the end of Browns slide is where we get the stammering descriptive rant again, He reeled, he lurched, he bobbed, he checked.