New Hampshire · Question
How does New Hampshire develop the theme of Nature and Transience?
Answer
New Hampshire by Robert Frost develops Nature and Transience across the chapters the companion marks for this theme.
Poems like 'Nothing Gold Can Stay' and 'The Runaway' explore the fleeting beauty of nature, the loss of innocence, and the harsh realities of the natural world.
The narrator's desire to elevate the mountains and the description of unsprayed apples and unpruned grapes reflect a tension between natural wildness and human intervention.
The fallen star symbolizes the transient beauty of nature, reduced to a cold stone in a wall.
The barren, stripped landscape and rotting trees highlight the transient nature of life and the environment.
Evidence in the book
- New Hampshire
The narrator's desire to elevate the mountains and the description of unsprayed apples and unpruned grapes reflect a tension between natural wildness and human intervention.
- A Star in a Stone-Boat
The fallen star symbolizes the transient beauty of nature, reduced to a cold stone in a wall.
- The Census-Taker
The barren, stripped landscape and rotting trees highlight the transient nature of life and the environment.
- Maple
The maple tree symbolizes both enduring identity and the fleeting seasons of life, as seen in autumn leaves and the sugar harvest.
- Paul's Wife
Paul's wife is born from a hollow pine log and emerges from water, symbolizing the transient and mysterious beauty of nature.
- Wild Grapes
The birch tree and grapes embody a natural setting that is both beautiful and precarious, with the speaker's experience highlighting the fleeting, transformative power of nature.
- A Fountain, a Bottle, a Donkey’s Ears and Some Books
The search for the fountain, the decay of the font, and the abandoned house reflect the passage of time and nature's reclamation.
- Grace Notes
Central to poems like 'Nothing Gold Can Stay,' 'The Onset,' and 'Dust of Snow,' which explore the fleeting beauty of nature and the inevitability of change.
