The Figure a Poem Makes

Poetry has been one of man's earliest form of art and entertainment, recited by the Ancient Chinese, the Greeks, and William Shakespeare. Enticed by its beauty and elegance, man has always been attracted to poetry. In The Figure a Poem Makes, Robert Frost makes the connection between poetry and the many aspects of life. Frost, a highly regarded American poet, dedicated his life to poetry, for he believed that poetry could be explained as life itself.

This essay he wrote was the preface of his collection of poems, and it is understandable why he writes this as his preface. He wants his audience to experience poetry different from others. He explains poetry as a figure, a rise and fall, "The figure a poem makes. It begins in delight and ends in wisdom" (177). He connects poetry to love, it starts out in happiness and pure ecstasy, and when it ends, it provides wisdom.

Every poem is different, not because of the type of rhetorical devices it uses, or the style it is written in, but because of the meaning and the message it delivers, the end product it gives the reader. Frost states, "like a piece of ice on a hot stove the poem must ride on its own melting" (178) The poem is not brought into the world entirely by the poet, all the poet does is spark it, and then the poet follows the poem in its creation. These metaphors that Frost uses allows the audience to mentally picture the figure of a poem. Something that seamlessly flows and always has a feel of originality. "Originality and initiative are what I ask for my country" (178). What Frost wants is his country to maintain the same figure as poetry. As said before, to Frost, poetry can be compared to life itself, and he wishes his readers to live life as a poem: from rise to fall, from ice on a hot stove to water, from delight to wisdom. "Read it a hundred times: it will forever keep its freshness as a metal keeps its fragrance" (178). These beautiful metaphors that Frost utilizes allows the reader to imagine poetry. He wants his readers to live life as a poem, read it a hundred times but it will forever keep its freshness; therefore, we should live life like we are living it hundred times and since we live life like a poem, we will never get tired of it.


"Like a piece of ice on a hot stove the poem must ride on its own melting."--Robert Frost