"Reluctance" by Robert Frost

Transcendental poems have two meanings - the literal and the implied/metaphorical. The implied meaning of this poem is often viewed through the context of Frost's own life. Read the poem, considering that he wrote it after his marriage proposal was rejected. Why is the poem titled "Reluctance"?

• The speaker is reluctant to see the beauty of the natural world around him.

• The speaker is reluctant to fall in love since everything comes to an end.

• The speaker is reluctant to get married since it represents the end of freedom.

• The speaker is reluctant to move on even though it is rational to.

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Which statement best represents the poem's message or theme?

• The passage of time is inevitable and not worth fighting.

• We should all drift easily through life, rolling with the punches as they come.

• It can be difficult to accept the end of something, so maybe we shouldn't always do so.

• The rational choice is always the best choice.

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How does the imagery of the dead leaves, snow, and wilted flowers reflect the speaker's experience?

• Like most people, the speaker is sad to see the life and colors of the other seasons be lost to fall.

• Walking through the woods in winter is a cold, lonely experience.

• Love is alive and blooming, but when rejected, it feels empty and cold.

• Winter is inevitable; death is inevitable; all bad things are inevitable.

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Which symbol most effectively conveys the poem's theme?

• The highway as a symbol of freedom.

• The dead leaves as a symbol of endings.

• The oak tree as a symbol of strength.

• The snow as a symbol of purity.

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Evaluate the effectiveness of the poetic techniques Frost uses. Which technique most effectively conveys the poem's theme?

• The use of rhyme to create a musical quality.

• The use of personification to give life to inanimate objects.

• The use of metaphor to compare love to a season.

• The use of alliteration to emphasize key ideas.

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What stylistic choice most strongly contributes to the emotional impact of the last line of the first stanza?

Out through the fields and the woods

   And over the walls I have wended;

I have climbed the hills of view

   And looked at the world, and descended;

I have come by the highway home,

And lo, it is ended.

• The short length of the line contrasts it with the rest of the stanza.

• The simple sentence structure with the first full stop of the poem emphasizes the suddenness his journey ended with.

• The indirect pronoun use - "it" - implies the speaker's whole life is ending (ie Death).

• The lack of descriptive language reminds us of everything death take away,

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How does the oak tree in stanza two reflect the speaker's own heart?

The leaves are all dead on the ground,

Save those that the oak is keeping

To ravel them one by one

And let them go scraping and creeping

Out over the crusted snow,

When others are sleeping.

• Everything else has moved on, but the oak tree has a harder time letting the leaves go.

• The oak is so strong and powerful that the behavior of others will not affect it.

• The oak tree only acts while other are asleep, emphasizing the speaker's cowardice.

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Why does the heart still ache to seek but the feet hesitate?

Stanza 3:

And the dead leaves lie huddled and still,

   No longer blown hither and thither;

The last lone aster is gone;

   The flowers of the witch hazel wither;

The heart is still aching to seek,

   But the feet question ‘Whither?’

• The feet aren't hesitating; they are waiting for direction.

• The feet are exhausted from the long journey.

• Everything is dead and gone. What else is left to seek?

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What is the impact of the word "treason" in these lines?

Ah, when to the heart of man

   Was it ever less than a treason

To go with the drift of things,

• It reinforces the irrational nature of emotion.

• It reflects "going along with things" as a betrayal and error.

• It emphasizes how irrational it can be to listen to reason.

• It is an allusion to the Revolutionary War and the importance of standing up for what you believe.

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What is the significance of rhyming "treason" with "reason" in the last stanza?

Ah, when to the heart of man

   Was it ever less than a treason

To go with the drift of things,

   To yield with a grace to reason,

And bow and accept the end

   Of a love or a season?

• It suggests that reason is more important than emotion.

• It stresses how wrong it can feel to ignore our hearts.

• It indicates that yielding to reason is a natural and graceful act.

• It suggests that reason should be resisted at all costs.

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