The Most of It - Literature Essay Samples

In his early poem The Rhodora, Ralph Waldo Emerson says, If eyes were meant for seeing, than beauty is its own excuse for being. If one were to ask the speaker in Robert Frosts The Most of It how he feels about Emersons quote, there would probably be two different responses. The man in the poem would disagree with Emerson, because he does not recognize the beauty of nature surrounding him. He sees the tree-hidden cliff and boulder-broken beach, but does not think that their beauty is enough of a response (4-5). He feels alienated, and does not realize that counter-love, original response comes in forms other than human replies (8). The poems speaker, however, has a different definition of what constitutes an original response from nature. He is not searching for the supernatural return of a loved one, or a higher intelligence in the natural world. The speakers mind recognizes the response as its own excuse for being, or simply the most that nature could give the man. Therefor e, the speaker continues learning and making the most out of what he can see and understand. He celebrates natures physical and spiritual assets, while the oblivious man in the poem lives a life of solitude. The speaker emphasizes that if the man in the poem could fully accept and appreciate natures ambiguity, he would be able to recognize natures response for what it is and make the most of it. The Most of It is a narrative poem written in succinct rhyming quatrains of iambic pentameter. The present tense emphasizes the mans desires: he wants not its own love back in copy speech, but original response (7-8). However, the introduction of the response is described in the past tense. The water splashed, and it (the response) stumbled through the rocks (12; 19). The plosive alliteration of the boulder-broken beach emphasizes the harshness of the environment, which seems undomesticated and quite solitary with its tree-hidden cliff across the lake (4-5). Although The Most of It is not (nor is it supposed to be) separated by stanzas, punctuation divides it into three parts. Periods occur at the end of lines 4, 8, and 20. The first four lines of the poem focus on the mans extreme solitude. He thinks he is the universes sole inhabitant. The setting is primitive, and the man is the poems only reference to humanity. The speakers wording choices provide clues regarding the mans solitude: his use of the word wake in line 2 (For all the voice in answer he could wake) hints at the death of the mans physical or spiritual companion. Human beings have both physical and spiritual longings; perhaps the man is searching for a physical companion or a form of higher intelligence that can respond to him.Lines 5-8 focus on the mans desire to end his isolation. He cr[ies] out on life, asking for a response that is not its own love back in copy speech to ease his loneliness (6-7). However, the man hears only his own voice in response. This mocking echo of his own is use d to enhance the intensity of the mans loneliness (3). Death is also implied in the fifth line (Some morning from the boulder-broken beach). Someone listening to the poem read aloud would be unable to distinguish between the words morning and mourning. If the second definition were to be used, the result (Some mourning from the boulder-broken beach He would cry out on life) would present an image of the man walking along a rocky beach, struggling with grief over the loss of his friend.The final section of the poems three-part division is devoted to natures response. Lines 9-20 comprise a single, remarkably long sentence that the speaker uses to describe the responses appearance. The speaker starts line 10 with the words Unless it was a crucial moment in the poem. Although the man in the poem is unable to recognize a response, the speaker identifies it as ambiguous natures reply. This response is the embodiment that the man can hear as it crashed in the cliffs talus (10-11). However, Frost teases his readers and does not have the speaker identify the embodiment until line 16, when the response metaphorically appears as a great buck. From lines 9-18, every three lines start with the word And. Because of this grammatical pattern, the speaker creates a list of descriptions that allow the reader to visualize the response. And then in the far distant water splashed, and the response emerges (15). However, the speaker takes the pattern a step further when he uses And to start lines 19 and 20. It is as if the speaker is desperately listing one detailed description after another in an attempt to get the man to appreciate nature for what it is, instead of faulting it for what it is not. Tactile imagery such as crumpled, stumbled, and forced is used to give the response perceptible qualities (17; 19-20) that the speaker tries to get the man to notice.The response is more than just a great buck (16). It landed pouring like a waterfall, thus creating an i mage of water dripping and cascading from the buck (18). The vision of the great buck as it stumbled through the rocks with horny tread, and forced the underbrush speaks to the authority of the human mind to distinguish it as nature and nothing else (19). The man in the poem cannot recognize that nature is responding to him because it is not giving him the answer that he is looking for. The conclusion of the poem is grim: that was all (20). Like natures response, the last four words of the poem are ambiguous, although infused with an element of tragedy. The man in the poem searched for his counter-love response, but was unable to recognize it when it was right in front of him (8). The poems ending brings his complete isolation to the forefront, and leaves the reader feeling a great deal of sympathy towards him. Conversely, those final four words symbolize the ambiguity and remoteness of nature. The speaker recognizes the grim reality of nature, but at the same time admires t he response for what it is.