I have scoured the internet, and this is the last place I thought I would ask for help. I want to know more about the poetic techniques used in Robert Frost's 'Ghost House', and so far there has been little to go by on the net. I was wondering where IRONY appears in the piece, other than the reference to a cellar in which daylight falls. And also, are is there more than one paradox, that being the first two lines of the poem? I have noted a lot of visual imagery in the poem, and several pairs of alliterated words in the last two stanzas (perhaps to tie together the introduction of the two loving spetres?), and would appreciate if anyone could point out any other poetic techniques I have missed. Also, I cannot see the overall purpose of the poem. This is an oral that I have to do for school, and I have been given seven 'Purposes of Poetry', one of which I have to classify 'Ghost House' into.
They are:
1. Poets Paint Word Pictures (I am sure Frost does this in 'Ghost House')
2. Poets Appeal to the Senses
3. Poets Reveal Their Feelings (I am not sure if Frost is doing this)
4. Poets Arouse our Emotions
5. Poets Describe People (Is Frost describing the ghosts love for one another?)
6. Poets Describe the World of Nature
7. Poets Try to Change Our Attitudes
I have analysed these 'Purposes of Poetry', and there are three that I am tossing up between (the ones with brackets next to them). If anyone could make any suggestions I would be extremely grateful.
Finally, here is the poem:
GHOST HOUSE - Robert Frost
I DWELL in a lonely house I know
That vanished many a summer ago,
And left no trace but the cellar walls,
And a cellar in which the daylight falls,
And the purple-stemmed wild raspberries grow.
O'er ruined fences the grape-vines shield
The woods come back to the mowing field;
The orchard tree has grown one copse
Of new wood and old where the woodpecker chops;
The footpath down to the well is healed.
I dwell with a strangely aching heart
In that vanished abode there far apart
On that disused and forgotten road
That has no dust-bath now for the toad.
Night comes; the black bats tumble and dart;
The whippoorwill is coming to shout
And hush and cluck and flutter about
:
I hear him begin far enough away
Full many a time to say his say
Before he arrives to say it out.
It is under the small, dim, summer star.
I know not who these mute folk are
Who share the unlit place with me--
Those stones out under the low-limbed tree
Doubtless bear names that the mosses mar.
They are tireless folk, but slow and sad,
Though two, close-keeping, are lass and lad,--
With none among them that ever sings,
And yet, in view of how many things,
As sweet companions as might be had.
If you managed to read all that, I would be extremely thankful if you could help clarify the things I have discussed. Thanks once again for your time.
Usurper
