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Robert FrostA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
As a pastoral poem, Frost’s “October” largely aligns with the formal rules of that genre: It occurs in a natural setting with a single speaker, and uses nature as a metaphor to explore a more introspective and philosophical concept—death. The pastoral poem originated in Greece and has evolved over time to include many modern-day interpretations, from the true-to-form pastoral to more critical takes on the form. With his decision to collapse what might be multiple stanzas into a single stanza, in some ways, Frost’s poem diverts from the traditional form, yet due to its rhyme scheme and measured verse, "October" maintains a kinship to more traditional poetics, such as poems of the romantic period.
While Frost mostly wrote and published during the period when modernism was occurring, his brand of poetics never too directly engaged with the movement. His contemporaries included the objectivist, the imagist, and the British poetry revivalists. Though Frost was never aligned completely with one school of poetry, he received early support from Ezra Pound and British poet Edward Thomas who were critical allies in receiving and amplifying Frost’s early work.
By Robert Frost
Acquainted with the Night
Robert Frost
After Apple-Picking
Robert Frost
A Time To Talk
Robert Frost
Birches
Robert Frost
Dust of Snow
Robert Frost
Fire and Ice
Robert Frost
Mending Wall
Robert Frost
Nothing Gold Can Stay
Robert Frost
Once by the Pacific
Robert Frost
Out, Out—
Robert Frost
Putting in the Seed
Robert Frost
Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening
Robert Frost
The Death of the Hired Man
Robert Frost
The Gift Outright
Robert Frost
The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost
West-Running Brook
Robert Frost