The Gift Outright
The land was ours before we were the land's
She was our land more than a hundred years
Before we were her people. She was ours
In Massachusetts, in Virginia,
But we were Englands, still colonials,
Possessing what we were still unpossessed by,
Possessed by what we now no more possessed.
Something we were witholding made us weak
Until we found it was ourselves
We were witholding from our land of living,
And forthwith found our salvation in surrender.
Such as we were we gave ourselves outright
(The deed of gift was many deeds of war)
To the land vaguely realising westward,
But still unstoried, artless, unenhanced,
Such as she was, such as she would become.
This is another poem by Robert Frost that is about the independance of America. I think it's a patriotic poem that may (or may not) apply to Singapore's independance too.
You have good understanding and appreciation of a poem that highlights the unpredictability of life and uncertainty of life choices-----how we will never know whether our life choices are the best, both in the short-term and the longer term ( ie at most 100 years!).Sometimes it is better not to know what life could have been eg if we were born to a different set of parents and thus growing up in a different environment, culture and facing a tougher life or a far easier one. There are too many speculative "what ifs" the answers to which will always be never known. So, stay content and make the most of what fate has handed to us. A more confused lay philosopher am I.
ReplyDeleteHi Christopher,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this poem.
How does the poet convey his ideas about America here? What literary devices does he use and what is the effect? Do consider these questions and you might come to a deeper analysis of the poem! :)