Nature Imagery in the Works of Robert Frost Ellie Roan

Many of Robert Frost's poems explore the splendor of the outdoors. In poems such as "A Prayer in Spring" and "To the Thawing Wind," the speakers show appreciation of nature's beauty surrounding them. However, "A Servant to Servants" is a contrast to the typical Frostian nature poem. The poem's speaker, the wife of a hard-working farmer, no longer takes pleasure in her beautiful surroundings. She feels trapped in a life that, to her, seems meaningless, under appreciated by her husband and the hired hands she cooks for. She explains her monotonous daily routine and subtly reveals her desperation. The speaker knows she is falling victim to the insanity that runs in her family, but although she perceives what is happening, she is unable to change her situation.

Frost wrote "A Servant to Servants" using iambic pentameter, although he varies the meter, such as in line 20, "Like a deep piece of some old running river." This, aided by his frequent use of enjambed lines, makes the poem sound more conversational, rather than following a rigid meter. He includes colloquialisms in the woman's speech so that the reader hears a realistic farm woman. There is no apparent rhyme...