Dickinson, Frost, Auden the Three

Dickinson, Frost, Auden

The three poems share a common literary device: irony. In all three, the major theme seems to be human life and all three view it in an ironic way. The poems are liable to different interpretations as well, and the authors use irony in a way that could induce the reader to understand the texts in the opposite way. Thus, in all three works, irony is used with such craft that it can lead to an ambiguous reading.

Dickinson's famous poem, Because I Could not Stop for Death, seems at first glance to regard life and death with a certain detachment. Death is represented as a friend or a lover that kindly passes by the author's house, to carry her somewhere in a symbolic carriage. The irony is however obvious: the fact that the author "could not stop for death" implies that it wasn't actually her wish to die, and that death came leaving her with no choice but to follow: "Because I could not stop for Death --/He kindly stopped for me --/the Carriage held but just / Ourselves --/and Immortality."(Dickinson, 78) the situation is very ironic precisely because Dickinson speaks about the 'kindness' of death that actually stops at every man's gate to take them on a one-way journey. The fact that eternity itself seems "shorter than a day" is again ironic, since immortality seems no different than life: "Since then -- 'tis Centuries -- and yet / Feels shorter than the Day / I first surmised the Horses' / Heads / Were toward Eternity -"(Dickinson, 78)

In Frost's poem, the Road not Taken, the irony is used with the same subtlety. At first sight, the poem seems to be a testimony in favor of individuality, since the poet symbolically makes a choice between two roads, one more trodden and one less trodden: "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -- / I took the one less traveled by, / and that has made all the difference."(Frost, 122)

However, it plainly appears that, in fact the two roads had been traveled the same: "Though as for that the passing there / Had worn them really about the same..." (Frost, 122) Thus, the poet ironically observes that, in life, one cannot make the perfect choice. This is emphasized by his regret that he cannot take both roads and be one traveler: "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, / and sorry I could not travel both / and be one traveler..."(Frost,122) Also, when he decides for one road, he hopes he can take the other later, but afterwards realizes that this is no longer possible since one decision leads to another, and there is no going back. Frost thus discusses life ironically, realizing that one decision can change one's whole life, without the possibility of going back and taking a different road.