The Vantage Point by Robert Frost

I chose this poem because the title gave me an imagery of a person standing at one particular spot and having accessibility to all that is in front of him without any constrains or impediments. I don’t mean this in a literal way. I am referring to an imagery of the imagery within the poem. A person is standing on a plateau type of lieu, where everything is plane and flat; where trees and hills don’t block the visual ahead. Think of person who is walking a path on this plateau facing down the entire time, if he wishes to see what is ahead of him, then trees and hills will not be in the way to block his visual of what is ahead. Therefore, he doesn’t have to walk facing down; instead, he has the advantage to see what is preceding his path and can walk it facing up without barriers.

IF tired of trees I seek again mankind,

Well I know where to hie me—in the dawn,

To a slope where the cattle keep the lawn.

There amid lolling juniper reclined,

Myself unseen, I see in white defined

Far off the homes of men, and farther still,

The graves of men on an opposing hill,

Living or dead, whichever are to mind.

And if by moon I have too much of these,

I have but to turn on my arm, and lo,

The sun-burned hillside sets my face aglow,

My breathing shakes the bluet like a breeze,

I smell the earth, I smell the bruisèd plant,

I look into the crater of the ant.

Literary Devices used:

Persona:

1.      The author takes the persona of a man who has chosen to isolate himself from society.

Ambiguity:

1.      “I look into the crater of the ant”  

Personification:

1.      “Cattle keep the lawn” he gave a cattle a human characteristic.

2.      “Lolling juniper”, trees that hang in a relaxed manner.

3.      “Bruised plant”, the plant was described as bruised so that we can have an image of a beat up plant.

Visual Imagery:

1.      “Far off the homes of men, and farther still” The imagery is that this person is in a location very distant from society. Maybe that place is the vantage point.

2.      “The Graves of men on an opposing hill”. I think she says graces of men to refer to houses, because houses are like graves in a certain sense.

3.      “To a slope where the cattle keep the lawn.” I think Frost used the word slope, which means a “not flat” surface, a “rising or falling ground,” to convey an image of a place that one would one want to be in.

Round Character:

1.      The author gives the character emotions and they show in the poem. The poem in general depicts an individual who may be going through a process of realization, he is one with his surroundings. He can even smell the earth and smell the plants around him. \

Static Character:

~the character didn’t seem to change at all throughout the poem, but the character may be consider to be a dynamic character because he is willing to change his circumstances in a necessary case, so in that sense he is possibly dynamic.