Writing Resources
In John Ciardi's Robert Frost The Way to the Poem he deconstructs Frost's Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening and displays a new way of poetic analysis He sheds a light on not just the stereotypical analytic question of what does the poem mean but how does the poem mean and its relation to the nature of poetry He explains this aspect by exhibiting the extensive suggestive ideas presented by Frost Also to delve deeper into the literary components that compose literary works Ciardi discusses the importance of understanding the underlying meanings in poetry and gives Frost as an example This can be seen on page 3 when Ciardi exclaims Many readers are forever unable to accept the poet s essential duplicity It is almost safe to say that a poem is never about what it seems to be about The question of How a poem means is a deeper in depth concept of analysis itself which is suggested by this statement The duplicity in meaning that a poet implement is essential to the readers full understanding of the poem This suggests that regarding the nature of poetry analysis is beneficial however one can t just scratch the surface when doing so For example in Frost's poem on lines 6 8 he says To stop without a farmhouse near between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year
