The Figure a Poem Makes

           In the essay, The Figure a Poem Makes, Robert Frost addresses his interpretation of how he feels poetry should be written and perceived. Frost examines poetry as a revelation. His perspective is that all poems should sound different. Robert Frost views poetry similarly to a book or movie plot, where there would be an exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution. Although in poetry it starts with “delight, it inclines to the impulse, it assumes direction with the first line laid down, it runs a course of lucky events, and ends in a clarification of life” (Frost 177). Robert Frost was one of the most popular and famous poets in the 20^th century. Frost wrote innumerable amounts of well-known plays, poems and letters. Robert Frost wrote this essay to elucidate how he believes poetry should be conformed and how each good poem should lead to a clarification in the reader.

            Frost directly writes about different forms of rhetorical devices throughout poetry and how well they are utilized. Several times, he identifies certain aspects of poetry and how they should be formed using metaphors. The intended audience of this piece would most likely be poetry writers or readers, to clarify the characteristics a well-written poem should contain and be comprehended. Frost’s ideas were effective in this piece, due to the clear stance he presents on the presentation of poetry. His purpose was completely established and accomplished through the short three pages of this essay.

This depicts how Frost feels that all poems should be different and that they should be constantly changed and approached in different ways.