Poetry The Gift Outright Poem Analysis & Summary by Robert Frost
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Analysis
"The Gift Outright" was written by the American poet Robert Frost. Largely known for its political assertion, the poem has been referred by many political leaders. Frost read it himself in the inauguration day of President Kennedy.
The "preliminary history" of America is the background of this poem. Frost has written this in Blank Verse because it offers a greater opportunity to use the language in a style of poetic conversation.
America is a country created by European settlers. Most of the national artists of America have dealt with the story of settlement. In a contemporary age, the assertion of Frost can be accused of racist ignorance.
The poem begins with a political assertion but the hesitance of the poet towards the civilizational capacity of the nation is obvious. Frost remains ambiguous in his political makeup.
The poem refers directly to the westward expansion of America. The poet describes the origin of America in a masterful way. The whole poem is the history of America. In the beginning, those who came from England were still bearing allegiance to England.
The poet believes that the true nationalism can never come unless one truly belongs to the land on which he lives. The ones who came earlier to the land never accepted it wholeheartedly.
They were still possessing Europe, not the new land America. The slow realization made them accept the land and only then the true possession came.
The people living on the land must not withhold themselves from the land. Even when the poet asks for the true nationalism, he himself probably doesn't have certainty about any national progress.
He is hesitant about the culture of America. He is still looking from the point of view of Europe. He has no confidence in the civilization of America. The lack of history makes him wonder whether the land is still unstoried.
The people may not have enhanced themselves into truly American. Like any artist, he deplores the lack of culture. He is scorning the American artlessness. It is ironic because he is an artist himself in that country.
The poem doubts certainty regarding the growth of the country. The history is ingrained in the mind of the poet so the past worries him. He knows that the future rewrites the past. His appeal is for an age of art, culture and golden history.
The lack of such core requirements for any civilization worries him. Yet, he celebrates the freedom of belonging to this nation. The poem draws from the Christian values which Eliot showed in his work "The Wasteland".
That is why it says that the people of a country find salvation in surrendering to the land completely. One can not withhold oneself from the land in which one lives.
The poem capitalizes on this issue of nationalism which is rooted in the American experience. Although it ignores the indigenous people of the land who were decimated by the settlers, the poem is truly American in its call and beliefs.
Summary
Introduction
"The Gift Outright" is a poem written by Robert Frost. Written in his old age, the poem was first published in 1942 by Virginia Quarterly Review. Because of its political implications, the poem has an interesting reading history.
Frost also read it in President John F Kennedy's inauguration day while improvising the last sentence on the stage. The poem shows how patriotic and nationalistic Frost was. Such poetry of frost has been considered as "the deepest source of national strength."
The poem is written in Blank Verse. It has 17 lines.
Line 1 - 7
America is a country created by settlers who went there from Europe and killed the natives systematically. The country was created in such a way but here in the poem, the poet ignores all that and paints the creation story in a positive way.
The poem begins with this assertion that the land was ours before we were the land's. The poet has a history in his mind from the very beginning. He sees the Europeans who arrived as settlers as people who had arrived on the land of America but were yet to possess it completely, belong to it completely.
The one who came from England as colonists were yet to be American in true sense. They had to abandon their early history completely and only then they could build a country so those who arrived first are described as we were England's, still colonials.
They possessed this land but remain unpossessed because they were still celebrating their native links. The true American character was yet to surface. The poet compares the contemporary state with that state when he says that they were possessed by what we now no more possessed.
Line 8 - 11
The colonists who came to America were still ruled by the place where they came from. So, they were not truly accepting this new land as their own but something to which they just rule.
So, the poet says that the character was not strong because Something we were withholding made us weak. But they realized this weakness and gave up their colonial link and celebrated the new identity afresh.
So, finally, they surrendered themselves to the land. In a Christian tone, the poet writes that they finally found salvation in surrender.
Line 12 - 17
The poet normalizes the wars which they fought. He writes that the deed of gift was many deeds of war. It overlooks the killing of the natives. The poet is celebrating the growth of nationalism.
In the end, the poet describes the expansion of the country by saying the land vaguely realising westward. Yet, he laments the lack of civilization. He believes the land is still unstoried, artless, unenchanced.
It is a point of view of many European thinkers that America has no culture. The poem ends in a not so positive tone when it says that such as she was, such as she would become. The poet envisions a land of high culture which is so slow to come.
