Recurs Through a Few Works:

¶ … recurs through a few works: three key poems of Robert Frost and through a brief comparison with Henry David Thoreau's "Walden," and touching upon the themes echoed through the works and life of Ralph Waldo Emerson. The theme is premised on the notion of Transcendentalism. Transcendentalism can be described as innate spirituality. This religion comes from within, from a person's experiences, his or her encounters and his or her abilities. Transcendentalism essentially transcends organized religion whose edicts come from on high or from without. Many of the philosopher-thinker-litterateurs of a certain time were transcendentalists, who were often at odds with the divinity schools of Ivy League universities.

The experiences that drive a person's transcendental spirituality comes from that individual's being in touch with nature. Being in touch with nature is something we've all forgotten bemoans the Thoreau's protagonist in "Walden." He takes up residence in Walden, trying to get away from it all. He realizes that he does not need a lot of money. He can grow what he needs. He communes with nature and lives off it. He builds his own home. The produce of the land allows him food, shelter and clothing. Thoreau cautions the need that people feel to get out of nature and live in metropolises, where they live a life of artificiality. Rather than chasing the dreams of the here and now, Walden's resident cautions that one should not only embrace the traditional, but also the classical.

In simplicity, there is bliss. Thoreau is in touch with nature; he is also in touch with himself. He learns self-reliance and is intolerant among whom he feels eschew the bounties of nature. Though Thoreau's protagonist proclaims the virtues of solitude and the advantages of living alone, he is willing to accept others into his life and share of what he has achieved. He even helps a runaway salve escape to Canada and freedom. Thoreau's transcendentalism is about freedom and individualism. He proclaims that there is a certain sense of achievement in "marching to the beat of a different drummer."

Though no particular work of Emerson will be discussed in this essay, it suffices here to indicate that this same transcendentalism was echoed in most of Emerson's work. The following quote from Emerson's "Nature," however, mirrors the theme of "Walden." To wit: I am not alone while I read and write, though nobody is with me. But if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars. The rays that come from those heavenly worlds will separate between him and what he touches."

Robert Frost, in three poems bemoans the role of nature in out lives and the lack of interactions that he believes are crucial for happiness. In "Birches," Frost notices that the boughs of birch trees are permanently bent. It would seem as if the entire forest of boughs has been bent paving a sort of a road. The poet would like to believe and in his heart, that the bending of the boughs was due to a boy swinging in the boughs in his carefree way. Frost bemoans that today's modern life does not allow one to enjoy nature in its simplicity. As William Henry Davies would have averred, "… we have no time to stand and stare…" Frost describes, at length, how a young boy might have enjoyed himself swinging along the boughs. Certainly, one boy might have not been able to have bent several boughs. Frost does realize the cause of the bending of the boughs. It is the weight of the ice that collects on the boughs that causes them to bend. But a man can wish, can't he?

In "Mending Walls," Frost celebrates the notion of solitude. He twice mentions, "fences make good neighbors;" this is despite what one hears very often in modern parlance that, one should build bridges, not fences." The poem is interplay between two individuals or two opposing concepts. One is about the protection of one's privacy and the celebration of solitude. The opposing view supports the notion of community living and the need for communication and togetherness. "No man is an island." One view seems to say. The other side counters, "Parting makes the heart grows fonder."

One of the key quotes in the poem comes from the protagonist, the one that is seeking to tear down the wall. The protagonist is concerned while building walls, wondering who is being "walled in" and who is being "walled out." But her neighbor is confident that there will not be a break in communication because of the wall. The implicit comment is that solitude is good and that over-familiarity breeds contempt. In "Home Burial," the solitude is forced. This is despite the fact that two individuals who live together and are married are alone. It is not the lack of love or communication that forces them to be alone. It is the loss of a loved one. The child is recently dead. The husband and wife are alone simply because they have grieved differently. According to Elizabeth Kubler Ross, there are five stages of grieving. The final stage is one of acceptance. This typically marks the end of grieving, where the bereft is ready to move on with his or her life. This does no mean that the sadness ends.