"The Form a Poem Makes" by Robert Frost

Robert Frost was an American poet who, having earned four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry, remains one of the highest regarded of the twentieth century. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Frost received critical acclaim during his lifetime for his realistic depictions of life through his poems. It was this success that, by 1939, allowed him to publish his essay The Figure A Poem Makes as a preface to his own collection of poems aptly named, Collected Poems. Undoubtedly, the intended audience for this particular essay were fans of poetry, allowing Frost to assume that readers would understand the rhythm and flow of poetic writing and were willing, much like in reading a poem itself, to learn something they were unaware they were unaware of. Indeed, this stands as one of the main goals of the essay; to help readers, or rather, all aficionados of poetry, best appreciate poetic works by providing an explanation as to the way well crafted and “sound” (Frost 176) poetry is created.

The Figure A Poem Makes allows Frost, through prose, the opportunity to analyze the human infatuation with poetry. In order to support his interpretations a myriad of arguments are made, the most notable being the notion that all poems are used to leave lasting wisdom for both the reader and the writer. Though admittedly expected from the likes of Robert Frost, the mastery of rhetoric in this essay produces a distinct reinforcement of this main idea, which, in my opinion, allows Frost to successfully accomplish his purpose. Through the use of parallel structure one is able to grasp the correlation between author and reader, through the inclusion of oxymorons the validation that poetry cannot be logically explained, but perhaps most potent are Frost’s analogies. Whether comparing poetry to love or “a piece of ice on a hot stove” (Frost 178) his comparisons make the writing more vivid, thought provoking, and meaningful. It is through this cadenced writing that Frost best explains how an exceptional poem should be constructed and, consequently, how it should be enjoyed.

The Road Taken
(painting by Dave Cutler)
This painting depicts the metaphorical "journey" of poetry that Robert Frost refers to in his essay; one that is new to both the reader and the writer. In this journey, it is the writer who leads the way for the reader down a path that neither knows the ending to. In this way the reader and the writer are emotionally connected through the poem.