Not to Keep by Robert Frost

[kellyrfineman]

More U.S. troops are being deployed. Again. And the stories of soldiers who have done multiple tours on active duty continue to mount, as do the stories of soldiers injured and killed while on active duty. And with the holidays coming, deployment must be much more difficult for families to endure - all those husbands, wives, children, parents, and

Comments

war poems

[slatts]

...so sad.

I'm definitely becoming a fan of Frost.

Thanks for that, Kelly!

And you may want to mention-or if you commenters are reading this-this poem is "better viewed" in Kelly's own page. The word breaks can do little justice to the poem on some "friend's pages."

Usually not a problem on mine-but this one was.

Re: war poems

[kellyrfineman]

Thanks for the note on viewing. I'll add a wee note to the top of the post.

And I'm glad you're liking Frost more. I've always been a fan, and the more I know, the more I like his work. He was far more complicated than some folks give him credit for. (Since many of his poems are easy to read on the surface, sometimes folks don't realize what depths are there.

don't realize what depths are there....

[slatts]

That's where YOU and your insightful and educational posts come in!

Frost

[william_e_lewis]

A moving poem, indeed, given our current situation. The "grim giving" goes on.

Although, like you said, it is not as mature as later poems, there are some important thematic elements in this poem that get carried on throughout his career....the harshness and impersonality of the world... the ability of men and women to suffer life's heartaches but their seeming inability to communicate effectively with each other about these burdens.

I had not remembered this poem, so thank you for sharing it.

Re: Frost

[kellyrfineman]

I hadn't remembered it either - I don't think it was in an early collection, but was just an extra poem that he published. It's from the same era as "For Once, Then, Something", which I adore, but which isn't usually anthologized. It foreshadows poems like "Home Burial" in its story-telling, isolated sort of way, but it felt more overtly political than some of his other works to me.

He manages to evoke quite a bit of emotion without actually writing in emotional terms, which is quite a skill. He conveys how the people are feeling without telling us at all how they feel. Something to aspire to, perhaps, as a poetic device - but not as a principle to live by.

[kellyrfineman]

Your poor brother. The guys with PTSD never really get to be all the way back, somehow.

[saralholmes]

I can only read this once, Kelly. It makes me cry. But thank you for posting it, and remembering those who go back, over and over again. And those who come back, but not all in one piece.

[kellyrfineman]

I'd say I'm sorry about the crying, because it certainly wasn't the intention, but I'm not at all sorry about posting the poem.

[patty1943]

I had no idea Frost had written a good war poem. Thanks for posting it. My favorite Vietnam poem is by Bruce Weigl. It is called Song of Napalm. It describes the intrusive memories brought back by a thunderstorm, and the wife's total incomprehension that Vietnam still affects him no matter how hard he tries to put it away.

[kellyrfineman]

Wow. Sounds gripping - I'll have a look for it. My all-time favorite war poem (sounds wrong, but you know what I mean) is probably still Dulce et decorum est by Wilfred Owen, but for an excellent collection, I recommend Brian Turner's Here, Bullet, which I reviewed here last Veterans Day, posting his poem "Sadiq", and also at Guys Lit Wire, where I included three other poems from his book.