Reading recent weather reports about what is happening in the Midwest brought this poem by Robert Frost to mind:
Storm Fear
When the wind works against us in the dark,
And pelts with snow
The lower chamber window on the east,
And whispers with a sort of stifled bark,
The beast,
'Come out! Come out!'--
It costs no inward struggle not to go,
Ah, no!
I count our strength,
Two and a child,
Those of us not asleep subdued to mark
How the cold creeps as the fire dies at length, --
How drifts are piled,
Dooryard and road ungraded,
Till even the comforting barn grows far away,
And my heart owns a doubt
Whether 'tis in us to arise with day
And save ourselves unaided.
What must it be like to be in an isolated farmhouse, miles from neighbors, listening to a winter storm howl outside, and knowing that they are alone and totally dependent upon themselves?
why is this poem terrifying?
ReplyDeleteThe isolation of the people?
ReplyDeleteThe doubts that they may not have the courage to get up in the morning and save themselves?
The narrator's recognition of their situation?
Have you read Frost's "Design" Or "Out, Out..."?