Exploring the Text

1. How does Robert Frost use the natural world to make an argument?

   Question

   ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=

   Exploring the Text: - How does Robert Frost use the natural world to make an argument?
2. What do you make of the play on words with “wither” (l. 16) and “whither” (l. 18)? What do you think is the answer to the question of “Whither,” which means “where”?

   Question

   ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=

   Exploring the Text: - What do you make of the play on words with “wither” (l. 16) and “whither” (l. 18)? What do you think is the answer to the question of “Whither,” which means “where”?
3. Frost is considered a modernist poet, which means, among other things, that his work has an economy and a directness to it. On the other hand, he used many of the traditional tools of the nineteenth-century poets—this poem rhymes, for example. Does “Reluctance” seem to be a contemporary, or modern, poem or does it feel old-fashioned to you? Explain.

   Question

   ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=

   Exploring the Text: - Frost is considered a modernist poet, which means, among other things, that his work has an economy and a directness to it. On the other hand, he used many of the traditional tools of the nineteenth-century poets—this poem rhymes, for example. Does “Reluctance” seem to be a contemporary, or modern, poem or does it feel old-fashioned to you? Explain.
4. What is the tone of “Reluctance”? Does the tone jibe with the poem’s subject or is there a bit of a disconnect? Explain your answer.

   Question

   ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=

   Exploring the Text: - What is the tone of “Reluctance”? Does the tone jibe with the poem’s subject or is there a bit of a disconnect? Explain your answer.
5. Poet and critic William Stafford said of Frost’s poetry that “the bland voice quietly carrying readers across chasms cannot prevent terrible glimpses. The poems often veil and, at the same time, hint at elements too abrupt, too full of hurt, for direct presentation.” Does this description apply to “Reluctance”? Explain why or why not.

   Question

   ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=

   Exploring the Text: - Poet and critic William Stafford said of Frost’s poetry that “the bland voice quietly carrying readers across chasms cannot prevent terrible glimpses. The poems often veil and, at the same time, hint at elements too abrupt, too full of hurt, for direct presentation.” Does this description apply to “Reluctance”? Explain why or why not.