Robert Frost said a poem should
"begin in delight and end in wisdom"

Do you think this is true of the poems of Frost and the other nature poets you have studied?

This is the title of the coursework piece you are now working on, and it must appear at the top of your essay. To answer it successfully you will need to write about each of the poems we have studied together. For some of them there will not be much to say, but that does not mean you can ignore them.

The poems group as follows:

  • The Pasture by Robert Frost - delight, no wisdom.
  • Self Pity by D.H. Lawrence - wisdom, no delight
  • The Selfsame Song by Thomas Hardy - delight leading to despair (but some would argue that the delight leads to the same kind of wisdom as is found in Blackberry Picking, & Nothing Gold can Stay)
  • Dust of Snow, Unharvested, Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost
  • Blackberry Picking by Seamus Heaney
  • The Selfsame Song by Thomas Hardy (arguably) - delight leading to wisdom. A Living by D H Lawrence - wisdom leading to delight

Write about each poem in turn, analysing what in the language conveys delight and whether there is wisdom. Compare poems which contain similar wisdom.

  • You MUST analyse language, explaining why certain words and phrases communicate delight or express wisdom.
  • You MUST quote relevant words and lines from the poems you are writing about.
  • Write in sentences.
  • Each poem needs a paragraph of its own.
  • End with a conclusion. Don't just stop.