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The Wood-Pile

The Wood-Pile
by Robert Frost
Here the "North Boston" is a collection of poems by Robert Frost. This collection contains the poem "The Wood-pile".
First published in	North of Boston
Country	England
Language	English
Form	Frostian 5-stress line
Publisher	David Nutt
Publication date	1914

"The Wood-Pile" is a thirty-nine line poem by American poet Robert Frost. It was firstly published in Frost's second book, his collection of poems North of Boston, in 1914 by David Nutt. It is his one of the most-discussed poems.

Background

In February of 1912 Robert Frost wrote a poem called “The Wood-Pile,” a poem that meant something special to him — he would single it out for reprinting in his annual Christmas card nearly fifty years later,just before he died.

The action of the poem supposedly happens in the Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia, to which he went on an excursion. Shortly before his death, Frost's grandfather purchased a farm for Robert and Elinor in Derry, New Hampshire; Frost worked the farm for nine years while writing early in the mornings, and "The Wood-Pile" is assumedly one of them.

Overview

The Wood-Pile

Out walking in the frozen swamp one gray day,
I paused and said, 'I will turn back from here.
No, I will go on farther—and we shall see.'
The hard snow held me, save where now and then
One foot went through. The view was all in lines
Straight up and down of tall slim trees
Too much alike to mark or name a place by
So as to say for certain I was here
Or somewhere else: I was just far from home.
A small bird flew before me. He was careful
To put a tree between us when he lighted,
And say no word to tell me who he was
Who was so foolish as to think what he thought.
He thought that I was after him for a feather—
The white one in his tail; like one who takes
Everything said as personal to himself.
One flight out sideways would have undeceived him.
And then there was a pile of wood for which
I forgot him and let his little fear
Carry him off the way I might have gone,
Without so much as wishing him good-night.
He went behind it to make his last stand.
It was a cord of maple, cut and split
And piled—and measured, four by four by eight.
And not another like it could I see.
No runner tracks in this year's snow looped near it.
And it was older sure than this year's cutting,
Or even last year's or the year's before.
The wood was gray and the bark warping off it
And the pile somewhat sunken. Clematis
Had wound strings round and round it like a bundle.
What held it though on one side was a tree
Still growing, and on one a stake and prop,
These latter about to fall. I thought that only
Someone who lived in turning to fresh tasks
Could so forget his handiwork on which
He spent himself, the labor of his ax,
And leave it there far from a useful fireplace
To warm the frozen swamp as best it could
With the slow smokeless burning of decay.

Robert Frost, 1914

This is a fourty line poem that is contained within one block of text. It is written in blank verse. Robert's poem begins with the speaker taking a walk through a frozen swamp. During his walk, he encounters a small bird and an abandoned woodpile, both of which become central to his contemplation.

The bird initially captures the speaker's attention, as it seems wary and evasive, fearing the speaker might be after one of its white tail feathers. However, the speaker's focus soon shifts to the woodpile, a neatly stacked cord of maple wood, cut and split, yet left to decay in the swamp. This neglected woodpile prompts the speaker to ponder the person who cut and arranged it, speculating that the individual must have been someone who moved from one task to another, leaving behind the fruits of their labor.

Themes

Like in his other poems during this period, Robert Frost deals with Nature and Loneliness. Frost touches on many themes in her poem, including connection to nature, fear, isolation, and the cycles of life. The latter is one of the main ones in the work due to the poem ending with the image of the wood-pile warming the swamp “with the slow smokeless burning of decay,” (40). The cycle of life opens through the speaker. He moves forward although he thinks of going back 'I will turn back from here. / No, I will go on farther—and we shall see.' (2-3) and "The hard snow held me," (4) shows that he can't turn back at all. He can't go back in time and prevent himself from aging, moving away "from home" (9). Home symbolizes his childhood associated with safety. His walk in the swamp is jorney through phases in life. Eventually, he will decay as the "woodpile" and abandon this world. As Robert was working on the farm gifted by his grandfather for nine years, he conveys the biological concept of mortality.

The theme of connection with nature is widely used throughout the poem. From the beginning of the poem the environment is unfavourable and discomfortful. It is presented as cold and undistinguished, as the observer describes it "Too much alike to mark or name a place by" (7) and also uses epithets like "frozen" (1), "gray" (1), 'hard" (4). The phrase in the ninth line "I was just far from home" (9) shows author's emotional rejection of this place. This time nature helps to convey the cold atmosphere of the setting that is connected to the theme of aging and its unpleasant consequences. Further in the poem, when a small bird appears, it seems frightened of the speaker. The observer personificates the small bird by saying "And say no word to tell me who he was" (12) and "like one who takes / Everything said as personal to himself." (15-16). Bird and narrator are separated literally by a tree: “He was careful/To put a tree between us when he lighted.” It suggests that there’s some sort essential divide between humanity and the natural world.

Legacy

"The Wood-Pile" is a lesser-known work in Frost's vast collection, but it is still admired for its evocative imagery and suggestive themes. It is sometimes studied alongside other Frost poems that explore similar ideas of nature, human resilience, and the passage of time.