Thursday, January 10, 2013

A Question

Robert Frost wrote the short poem A Question.  The poem is very philosophical.

A voice said, Look me in the stars
And tell me truly, men of earth
If all the soul-and-body scars
Were not too much to pay for birth.

The poem has four verses.  Each one is eight syllables in length and the stress pattern is weak strong.  The poem is in iambic tetrameter.

In this poem the narrator hears a voice.  This voice is from heaven and asks the narrator to answer a question.  The question is for all mankind.  God asks if all the sins and pains of life are too great for the gift of life. 

The question is addressed to mankind, but at the same time it may also reflect God's disappointment with His creation.  Though short and simple, the poem poses a complex question.  The style is typical of Robert Frost.

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