# New Hampshire — Themes

> Major themes in New Hampshire by Robert Frost.

## Commerce vs. Authenticity

The book contrasts the commercialism and 'selling' of other states with New Hampshire's pride in having nothing to sell, treating trade as a disgrace and valuing specimens over commodities.

### Where it surfaces

- [New Hampshire](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/new-hampshire): The poem contrasts the commercial boasting of outsiders with New Hampshire's pride in having nothing to sell, and criticizes the shame of trade through the old friend's story.
- [The Star-Splitter](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/the-star-splitter): Brad's insurance fraud and purchase of a telescope highlight the tension between material necessity and genuine curiosity.
- [The Axe-Helve](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/the-axe-helve): Baptiste contrasts the inferior machine-made axe-helve with his own handcrafted, naturally grown hickory helve, emphasizing the value of authentic, artisanal work over commercial products.
- [A Brook in the City](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/a-brook-in-the-city): The city's expansion and the brook's burial represent the triumph of commercial and industrial progress over authentic, natural experience, leaving only ancient maps as evidence of what was lost.

## Nature and Transience

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.

### Where it surfaces

- [New Hampshire](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/the-census-taker): The barren, stripped landscape and rotting trees highlight the transient nature of life and the environment.
- [Maple](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/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.

## Isolation and Community

The work examines rural solitude, as in 'The Census-Taker' and 'Stopping by Woods,' alongside the quirky, interconnected lives of small-town New Englanders.

### Where it surfaces

- [The Census-Taker](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/the-census-taker): The chapter emphasizes extreme isolation, with the census-taker finding no community in the vast, empty landscape.
- [The Axe-Helve](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/the-axe-helve): Baptiste uses the pretext of fixing the axe to invite the narrator into his home, suggesting a desire for neighborly connection and mutual understanding across cultural divides.
- [Paul's Wife](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/paul-s-wife): Paul's desire to keep his wife hidden contrasts with the communal curiosity of the lumber camp, highlighting tensions between privacy and social bonds.
- [Place for a Third](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/place-for-a-third): Eliza's wish to be buried alone contrasts with the communal nature of family plots, and Laban's interactions with John's sister reveal the tensions between individual desire and social expectations.
- [Two Witches](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/two-witches): Both witches are isolated figures within their communities, yet their identities are defined by communal gossip, town records, and local politics.
- [I: The Witch of Coös](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/i-the-witch-of-co-s): The mother and son live in a remote farmhouse behind a mountain, isolated from the outside world, and the secret of the bones binds them together.

## Work and Labor

Themes of physical toil, craftsmanship (as in 'The Axe-Helve'), and the dignity or disgrace of work are central, contrasting honest labor with the shame of selling.

### Where it surfaces

- [The Axe-Helve](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/the-axe-helve): The chapter centers on the craft of making an axe-helve, the physical labor of chopping wood, and the pride Baptiste takes in his work.
- [The Grindstone](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/the-grindstone): The poem centers on the physical and emotional labor of grinding a blade, exploring the tension between effort, control, and the cost of perfection.
- [Good-Bye and Keep Cold](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/good-bye-and-keep-cold): The speaker's business with 'different trees' and the mention of axe work on maples, birches, and tamaracks underscores the labor involved in tending to the land.
- [Not to Keep](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/not-to-keep): The grim duty of war is portrayed as a repetitive, laborious task that both the soldier and his wife must endure.
- [The Kitchen Chimney](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/the-kitchen-chimney): The poem focuses on the labor of building a chimney, emphasizing the importance of doing the work correctly from the ground up.
- [Gathering Leaves](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/gathering-leaves): The poem centers on the labor of gathering leaves, emphasizing the repetitive and seemingly pointless nature of the task.

## Perception and Truth

Poems like 'For Once, Then, Something' and 'The Star-Splitter' question human understanding of reality, exploring the limits of sight, knowledge, and the search for deeper meaning.

### Where it surfaces

- [A Star in a Stone-Boat](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/a-star-in-a-stone-boat): The laborer fails to perceive the star's true nature, while the narrator seeks deeper truth in ordinary objects.
- [The Star-Splitter](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/the-star-splitter): The telescope as a tool for seeing stars raises questions about whether deeper observation yields true understanding of our place in the cosmos.
- [Maple](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/maple): The search for the true meaning behind Maple's name contrasts with the subjective interpretations of her and her husband.
- [The Grindstone](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/the-grindstone): The narrator questions who is truly being ground—the blade, the man, or himself—and reflects on the subjective nature of fairness and completion.
- [Wild Grapes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/wild-grapes): The speaker contrasts her brother's logical perspective with her own intuitive, heart-driven clinging, exploring the gap between knowing and feeling.
- [Two Witches](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/two-witches): The poems explore how stories and accusations shape reality, with the mother confessing to a lie kept for years and the Pauper Witch challenging official records.

## Mortality and Loss

Death, grief, and the passage of time pervade the collection, seen in 'In a Disused Graveyard,' 'To E.T.,' and the haunting presence of the dead in 'The Witch of Coös.'

### Where it surfaces

- [The Census-Taker](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/the-census-taker): The decay of the house and the absence of people evoke a deep sense of loss and the passage of time.
- [Maple](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/maple): Maple's mother dies shortly after her birth, and the name becomes a lasting connection to that loss.
- [The Grindstone](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/the-grindstone): The grindstone's idle state and the memory of past labor evoke a sense of transience, loss, and the passage of time, symbolized by the Father-Time figure.
- [Place for a Third](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/place-for-a-third): The chapter centers on Eliza's death and the negotiation of her final resting place, highlighting grief and the desire for control over one's legacy.
- [Two Witches](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/two-witches): The skeleton in the attic and the murder it represents, along with the Pauper Witch's decline from youth to poverty, underscore themes of death and loss.
- [I: The Witch of Coös](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/i-the-witch-of-co-s): The skeleton represents death and the unresolved past; the mother's confession reveals a murder and the haunting consequences.

## Regional Identity

The book celebrates New Hampshire's distinct character—its mountains, small towns, and people—while satirizing other states and reflecting on what defines a place.

### Where it surfaces

- [New Hampshire](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/new-hampshire): New Hampshire is portrayed as a state defined by its lack of commercialism, its mountains, and its unique characters, standing apart from other states like California and Arkansas.

## Art and Poetry

Frost reflects on the role of the poet, the difficulty of selling poems, and the tension between artistic inspiration and the practical world, as in 'A Fountain, a Bottle, a Donkey's Ears and Some Books.'

### Where it surfaces

- [A Fountain, a Bottle, a Donkey’s Ears and Some Books](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/a-fountain-a-bottle-a-donkey-s-ears-and-some-books): The chapter centers on Clara Robinson's poetry, the physical books, and the tension between the value of art and its neglect or destruction.
- [To E. T.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/to-e-t): The narrator cherishes E. T.'s poems and grapples with the intersection of soldier and poet identities.
- [The Aim Was Song](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/the-aim-was-song): The poem itself is a meditation on the creation of art, where the wind is given form and meaning through the human act of blowing it 'by measure' into song.
- [Evening in a Sugar Orchard](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/evening-in-a-sugar-orchard): The narrator imaginatively transforms sparks into constellations, blending observation with poetic vision.
- [A Hillside Thaw](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/a-hillside-thaw): The vivid imagery and personification of natural forces (sun as wizard, moon as witch) reflect the poetic craft of rendering natural phenomena into art.

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