Two short poems are discussed to examine and prove Robert Frost’s and William Williams’ membership in the modernist poetic movement. Frost’s work The Road Not Taken is chosen as the first example. In this work, it is possible to observe ambiguity and possible subtext. To a certain extent, there is an irresolvability and fragmentation: “And sorry I could not travel both / And be one traveler, long I stood” (Frost, lines 3-4). The structure of the poem itself is likewise clearly in keeping with the modernist style, including a relatively non-linear, distracted narrative with a blurred core meaning and plot.
The number of syllables does not always have a rhyming pattern. It is another manifestation of modernism in poetry: “Though as for that the passing there / Had worn them really about the same…” (Frost, lines 9-10). The first, third, and fourth lines rhyme here, and the second line rhymes with the fifth, which confirms Robert Frost’s connection with the modernist current as well.
As a second example, a brief work by Williams entitled This Is Just To Say is considered. This work is an even more striking example of the author’s affiliation with modernist poets. Williams, especially in the third stanza of “so sweet / and so cold,” completely denies not only rhyme but any rhythm, ending the work and each stanza with a break (lines 15-16). It is distinguished from the previous poem examined by its lack of any noticeable explicit subtext.
Moreover, from the poem’s title, one can already assume that it was written without any particular underlying ideas or subtexts. This work’s meaning and the plot are elementary and more like a description of ordinary action and ordinary things, without suggesting ideas: “I have eaten / the plums” (Williams, lines 1-2). On this basis, such a brief verse by Williams is one of the most apparent pieces of evidence of the author’s belonging to the modernists.
Works Cited
Frost, Robert. “The Road Not Taken.” Poetry Foundation, n.d.
Williams, Carlos W. “This Is Just to Say.” Poetry Foundation, n.d.