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“West-Running Brook” (1928) both epitomizes and challenges the popular perception of Robert Frost, America’s bard. The poem describes a husband and wife who stroll along the bank of West-Running Brook, a country stream that meanders near the New Hampshire town of Derry where Frost lived.
- West-Running Brook Summary and Explanation
- Influences of The Poem
- An Ambiguous Theme
- Line-By-Line Analysis of 'West-Running Brook'
West-Running Brook is a philosophical poem at heart written in the form of a dialogue between a young husband and wife. The brook is a metaphor for consciousness of a certain contrary type. It moves inexorably, the 'stream of everything that runs away.' Frost's wedded couple offer contrasting views on the nature of the brook, which itself has a wav...
As with many of Frost's longer poems of a philosophical nature, they are often inspired by ideas he gleaned from both the natural world and the written work of thinkers, both historical and contemporary. With this particular poem two prominent names are known to have influenced the creation: William James (1842–1910), American philosopher and psych...
Some might argue that this poem only adds to the confusion, for the reader at least. Perhaps this is the legacy of some of Frost's more ambiguous poems—they remain open-ended and ripe for questioning and debate. In 'West-Running Brook' there are no definitive answers. The poem begins with a simple question from the woman and ends with her single st...
Eighty-two lines in all, many with that familiar Frostian beat of the iambic (laced with the odd trochee, pyrrhic, spondee and anapaest) carried on ten syllables. Because it is in dialogue form some lines are shorter—three or four syllables for example—but the next line often makes up the full 10. So it is a blank verse poem with a twist.
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Feb 21, 2021 · Analysis of Robert Frost’s West-Running Brook. By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on February 21, 2021 • ( 0 ) First published in West-Running Brook (1928) as the title poem, this narrative depicts a conversation between Fred and his wife as they meander alongside a brook. It opens with the wife inquiring which direction is north.
Stands still and dances, but it runs away, It seriously, sadly, runs away. To fill the abyss’ void with emptiness. It flows beside us in this water brook, But it flows over us. It flows between us. To separate us for a panic moment. It flows between us, over us, and with us. And it is time, strength, tone, light, life and love—.
Robert Frost. West-Running Brook. Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1928. A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. Download PDF. Access Full Guide. Generate discussion. questions about this title!
4 Contributors. West-Running Brook Lyrics. 'Fred, where is north?' 'North? North is there, my love. The brook runs west.' 'West-running Brook then call it.' (West-Running Brook men...
West Running Brook is the poem by Robert Frost in dialogue form between a spouse, which also hints and develops a thematic tension about a subject that is philosophically significant. Many allegorical interpretations have been made about the basic idea about the only one brook running west when all the others flow towards the east.
