Robert Frost - The Investment
Post 1 of 25
The Investment
Over back where they speak of life as staying
('You couldn't call it living, for it ain't'),
There was an old, old house renewed with paint,
And in it a piano loudly playing.
Out in the plowed ground in the cold a digger,
Among unearthed potatoes standing still,
Was counting winter dinners, one a hill,
With half an ear to the piano's vigor.
All that piano and new paint back there,
Was it some money suddenly come into?
Or some extravagance young love had been to?
Or old love on an impulse not to care--
Not to sink under being man and wife,
But get some color and music out of life?
100 to those who give the best analysis or comments? Points will be given on 6/9. I hope by then more comments will be posted
Over back where they speak of life as staying
('You couldn't call it living, for it ain't'),
There was an old, old house renewed with paint,
And in it a piano loudly playing.
Out in the plowed ground in the cold a digger,
Among unearthed potatoes standing still,
Was counting winter dinners, one a hill,
With half an ear to the piano's vigor.
All that piano and new paint back there,
Was it some money suddenly come into?
Or some extravagance young love had been to?
Or old love on an impulse not to care--
Not to sink under being man and wife,
But get some color and music out of life?
100 to those who give the best analysis or comments? Points will be given on 6/9. I hope by then more comments will be posted
Award 100 MVPs (
What's this?
)for the best answer.
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25 May 2007 19:38
Post 2 of 25
Replying to [Thomas1976] It seems to be a poem, and it is difficult for me to understand it, can you explain it ot me?
we should have a full hope to everything.and pay attention to the friendship and affection.
26 May 2007 00:02
Post 3 of 25
Replying to [Thomas1976]:
......Not to sink under being man and wife,
But get some color and music out of life.
Poems are always symbolic in nature. According to me, this poem is more of a spiritual nature trying to suggest a deep meaning about the purpose of life.
The poet seems to be deeply concerned with the way the individuals, young or old, have been misguided by worldly pleasures. Having realized that everyone turns backs on learnings and become the slaves of carnal pleasure, he is trying to say that these pleasure do no good to the individuals. By the idea of living somehow or the other, their life will drift with the current like a ship with rudder.
He sincerely wants that an individual must rise above the material life and learn, through his inner light i.e. wisdom, to find ways to achieve the real, smooth progress of lifes journey. He wants that one should try to find the true colors and music, (in spiritual sense), based on wisdom, out of their valuable life.
......Not to sink under being man and wife,
But get some color and music out of life.
Poems are always symbolic in nature. According to me, this poem is more of a spiritual nature trying to suggest a deep meaning about the purpose of life.
The poet seems to be deeply concerned with the way the individuals, young or old, have been misguided by worldly pleasures. Having realized that everyone turns backs on learnings and become the slaves of carnal pleasure, he is trying to say that these pleasure do no good to the individuals. By the idea of living somehow or the other, their life will drift with the current like a ship with rudder.
He sincerely wants that an individual must rise above the material life and learn, through his inner light i.e. wisdom, to find ways to achieve the real, smooth progress of lifes journey. He wants that one should try to find the true colors and music, (in spiritual sense), based on wisdom, out of their valuable life.
27 May 2007 08:41
Post 4 of 25
Replying to [big sea]:
It will be too soon for me to give any comment to this poem since I am giving out points to those who gives the best comments.
Yes, it is very difficult, but try your best.
It is very important to note each words in the poem....
The investment, the old house, the couple, the potato, the dig etc....every thing has a meaning. Btw, this is a old poem. So, you have to think back in the past.
It will be too soon for me to give any comment to this poem since I am giving out points to those who gives the best comments.
Yes, it is very difficult, but try your best.
It is very important to note each words in the poem....
The investment, the old house, the couple, the potato, the dig etc....every thing has a meaning. Btw, this is a old poem. So, you have to think back in the past.
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27 May 2007 17:08
Post 5 of 25
Replying to [vshanker]:
Great comment.
What do you think the title "The Investment" means here?
What was "the Investment"?
Why "counting winter dinners"?
Great comment.
What do you think the title "The Investment" means here?
What was "the Investment"?
Why "counting winter dinners"?
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27 May 2007 17:13
Post 6 of 25
Replying to [Thomas1976]:This Poem was written and published in 1928.
This is the year before the Great Depression of America, 1929 to 1933. The Poem is more or less inspired or influenced by Rober Frost's trip to France, England and Scotland in 1928 and returned to America in November that year.
There was massive unemployment, stock market crashed, companies went bust, 15 million Americans were unemployed.
It was the aftermath of World War 1, when Europe was in bankruptcy, companies and governments could not service their debts.
The nickname "Black Monday" was for the day the Great Depression began.
Robert Frost father was a school teacher turned journalist. In 1875 William Prescot Frost was the city editor of the San Francisco Daily Evening Post.
William was a heavy drinker, a compulsive gambler, and a strict disciplinarian. Robert's mother and siblings had stormy family life.
In 1883, at young age, Robert heard voices when alone. His father William died when Robert was 11 years old, and his mother and sister to live with the grandparents in M *. They moved from San Francisco.
POEM COMMENTS
The starting paragraph "Over back" speaks of the house back home with grandfather from Robert's past, or from the back after his return from Scotland and England in November. This state is not considered as a living standard, more of a sub-normal living standard of poverty, naivrty and lack of vision.
Music is for the soul, an art which is the software of life, but it is played loudly and considered annoying rather than soothing to the soul. The old house had a coat of fresh paint, an attempt to rejuvernate the old, to have a makeover on the outside only. The word old was repeated twice, emphasises the age of this house as past two generations.
Out in the plowed ground in the cold a digger,
Among unearthed potatoes standing still,
Was counting winter dinners, one a hill,
With half an ear to the piano's vigor.
A situation of hand-to-mouth living. Without planning, no storehouse of food for the winter, digging out the potatoes during winter is uncommon. Or it could be madness, as in Robert's young age, he hears voices, and similar experience by his mother, Elanor who claimed it to be a 'gift' from heaven. However this is the symptoms of Psychosis, and Schizophrenia. The family has history of mental illness, from the mother's side. This could have been surfaced while Robert was living with their grandparents in M *.
Farmers plough the ground in early Spring or late Winter, but not in the cold (winter). It was the year before the start of the Great Depression which lasted for four years (April 1929 to 1933). The Investment Peom was written in 1928 and published in the same year, when Robert was travelling to France, England and Scotland, and only returned to the US in November 1928.
Unearthed potatoes standing still, the harvest was not collected and yet the digging started. Half hearted, work and luke-warm enthusiasm. With half an ear to the piano's strength, like half-hearted and lackadaisical attitude.
Robert's poem intrigues reader's reasoning for the music and fresh paint 'back there': for celebrating new impulse to old couple love? or some money that come suddenly or the extravagant spending of young lover moving in or staying in the house.
Closing paragraph, is to live above the circumstances, not bogged down in the mud, sinking in lack-lustre man and wife relationship, but to perk up with music and dancing and laughter and colourful dressings of life, or rather to get the full joy of life.
James OO7
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
This is the year before the Great Depression of America, 1929 to 1933. The Poem is more or less inspired or influenced by Rober Frost's trip to France, England and Scotland in 1928 and returned to America in November that year.
There was massive unemployment, stock market crashed, companies went bust, 15 million Americans were unemployed.
It was the aftermath of World War 1, when Europe was in bankruptcy, companies and governments could not service their debts.
The nickname "Black Monday" was for the day the Great Depression began.
Robert Frost father was a school teacher turned journalist. In 1875 William Prescot Frost was the city editor of the San Francisco Daily Evening Post.
William was a heavy drinker, a compulsive gambler, and a strict disciplinarian. Robert's mother and siblings had stormy family life.
In 1883, at young age, Robert heard voices when alone. His father William died when Robert was 11 years old, and his mother and sister to live with the grandparents in M *. They moved from San Francisco.
POEM COMMENTS
The starting paragraph "Over back" speaks of the house back home with grandfather from Robert's past, or from the back after his return from Scotland and England in November. This state is not considered as a living standard, more of a sub-normal living standard of poverty, naivrty and lack of vision.
Music is for the soul, an art which is the software of life, but it is played loudly and considered annoying rather than soothing to the soul. The old house had a coat of fresh paint, an attempt to rejuvernate the old, to have a makeover on the outside only. The word old was repeated twice, emphasises the age of this house as past two generations.
Out in the plowed ground in the cold a digger,
Among unearthed potatoes standing still,
Was counting winter dinners, one a hill,
With half an ear to the piano's vigor.
A situation of hand-to-mouth living. Without planning, no storehouse of food for the winter, digging out the potatoes during winter is uncommon. Or it could be madness, as in Robert's young age, he hears voices, and similar experience by his mother, Elanor who claimed it to be a 'gift' from heaven. However this is the symptoms of Psychosis, and Schizophrenia. The family has history of mental illness, from the mother's side. This could have been surfaced while Robert was living with their grandparents in M *.
Farmers plough the ground in early Spring or late Winter, but not in the cold (winter). It was the year before the start of the Great Depression which lasted for four years (April 1929 to 1933). The Investment Peom was written in 1928 and published in the same year, when Robert was travelling to France, England and Scotland, and only returned to the US in November 1928.
Unearthed potatoes standing still, the harvest was not collected and yet the digging started. Half hearted, work and luke-warm enthusiasm. With half an ear to the piano's strength, like half-hearted and lackadaisical attitude.
Robert's poem intrigues reader's reasoning for the music and fresh paint 'back there': for celebrating new impulse to old couple love? or some money that come suddenly or the extravagant spending of young lover moving in or staying in the house.
Closing paragraph, is to live above the circumstances, not bogged down in the mud, sinking in lack-lustre man and wife relationship, but to perk up with music and dancing and laughter and colourful dressings of life, or rather to get the full joy of life.
James OO7
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
28 May 2007 00:09
Post 7 of 25
Replying to [Thomas1976]:
Robert Frost is one of my favorite.... Btw, nice introduction of Robert Frost.
Great answers!!!!!
So, What is "the investment"? The marriage or simply money investment? Does it have anything to do with The Depression?
Does anybody has a different answers?
I love to know what is Prof Carl's comment on this poem!!!!
Robert Frost is one of my favorite.... Btw, nice introduction of Robert Frost.
Great answers!!!!!
So, What is "the investment"? The marriage or simply money investment? Does it have anything to do with The Depression?
Does anybody has a different answers?
I love to know what is Prof Carl's comment on this poem!!!!
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28 May 2007 01:21
Post 8 of 25
Replying to [Thomas1976]:
The Investment is on the trip to Europe with wife Elanor and daughter Marjoe.
This is to bring the family together, as the poem was written during the year of the trip to France, England and Scotland.
It opens a new perspective of life to Robert as compared to the mundane and routine lifestyle of the old house in America; digging for potatoes for the winter dinners.
James OO7
The Investment is on the trip to Europe with wife Elanor and daughter Marjoe.
This is to bring the family together, as the poem was written during the year of the trip to France, England and Scotland.
It opens a new perspective of life to Robert as compared to the mundane and routine lifestyle of the old house in America; digging for potatoes for the winter dinners.
James OO7
28 May 2007 02:32
Post 9 of 25
Replying to [Thomas1976]:
"Out in the plowed ground in the cold a digger,
Among unearthed potatoes standing still,
Was counting winter dinners, one a hill,
With half an ear to the piano's vigor.
I think, in poems, there is no single or exact meaning of the words if taken into isolation. It is to be taken in totality. The words or sentences which are used in this poem are always symbolic in nature. James 007has explained it at length the "then" unfriendly situations in which this poem was written.
Though I am not very much familiar with the exact situations underwhich this poem was written (james 007 has explained it beautifully in detail). But in totality, what I could feel is that all the above mentioned lines only try to explain the pathetic social and economic condition of the society.
Keeping in view the ever worst situation faced by the whole of Europe and USA, to me it seems that the combination of the two words "counting winter dinners and one a hill denotes the loneliness of a person in the long dark winter nights which are always difficult to live.
By "The investment" the poet might be trying to convey the investment of the situation and time. It should not be wasted during dull and hard times rather the situations must be utilized in a better way by keeping mind steadfast. Inspite of the hard, lonely, dull, standstill life, one should not waste time in putting himself in depression as an ordinary human being (man or woman), rather he should rise above this ordinary level and utilize this dull and hard periods of life in a much useful way and realize the vast purpose of life. Good times and bad times come and go, but this kind of investments in both the situations which only a human being can do, always brings fruits in the coming times, years as well as life after life.
The poem has definitely has strong philosophical and spiritual message.
"Out in the plowed ground in the cold a digger,
Among unearthed potatoes standing still,
Was counting winter dinners, one a hill,
With half an ear to the piano's vigor.
I think, in poems, there is no single or exact meaning of the words if taken into isolation. It is to be taken in totality. The words or sentences which are used in this poem are always symbolic in nature. James 007has explained it at length the "then" unfriendly situations in which this poem was written.
Though I am not very much familiar with the exact situations underwhich this poem was written (james 007 has explained it beautifully in detail). But in totality, what I could feel is that all the above mentioned lines only try to explain the pathetic social and economic condition of the society.
Keeping in view the ever worst situation faced by the whole of Europe and USA, to me it seems that the combination of the two words "counting winter dinners and one a hill denotes the loneliness of a person in the long dark winter nights which are always difficult to live.
By "The investment" the poet might be trying to convey the investment of the situation and time. It should not be wasted during dull and hard times rather the situations must be utilized in a better way by keeping mind steadfast. Inspite of the hard, lonely, dull, standstill life, one should not waste time in putting himself in depression as an ordinary human being (man or woman), rather he should rise above this ordinary level and utilize this dull and hard periods of life in a much useful way and realize the vast purpose of life. Good times and bad times come and go, but this kind of investments in both the situations which only a human being can do, always brings fruits in the coming times, years as well as life after life.
The poem has definitely has strong philosophical and spiritual message.
28 May 2007 11:12
Post 10 of 25
Replying to [Double O 7]:
source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Frost
source:http://www.ketzle.com/frost/frostbio.htm
...... until 1897. Frost then entered Harvard University for two years. He did well, but felt he had to return home because of his health and because his wife, Elinor Miriam White, was expecting a second child. His grandfather purchased a farm in Derry, New Hampshire, for the young couple. Soon afterwards his grandfather died. He stayed there for nine years and wrote many of the poems that would make up his first works......
source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Frost
1900 - Son Elliott dies of cholera on July 8 and is buried in Lawrence. Elinor suffers sever depression. Frost's heath declines. Mother enters sanatorium in Penacook, NH. Mother dies of cancer on November 2 and is buried in Lawrence.
source:http://www.ketzle.com/frost/frostbio.htm
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28 May 2007 16:37
Post 11 of 25
Replying to [vshanker]:
The poet had a very sad past. If you google his name and read his biography, you find that his family has experienced death, depression, mental illness, sickness etc etc.........in the midst of all this, Frost was awarded with many awards plus the Pulitzer Prize, and was recognized as one of US greatest poet.
The past 20+ years, he has taken care of his depressed wife whom he had failed to proposed marriage 2 times (Young Love). Only the 3rd time, he succeed and married Elinor. His son's death caused Elinor into depression. Later, his Grandfather's death given him an old house with a farm.............
The poet had a very sad past. If you google his name and read his biography, you find that his family has experienced death, depression, mental illness, sickness etc etc.........in the midst of all this, Frost was awarded with many awards plus the Pulitzer Prize, and was recognized as one of US greatest poet.
The past 20+ years, he has taken care of his depressed wife whom he had failed to proposed marriage 2 times (Young Love). Only the 3rd time, he succeed and married Elinor. His son's death caused Elinor into depression. Later, his Grandfather's death given him an old house with a farm.............
SIGNATURE:
About Our Company
RYU MEI CO LTD
Ryu Mei is a health and food trading company in Kobe, Japan. Ryu Mei a Japanese food specialist company with products like Kurobuta (Berkshire) , Wagyu (Kobe Beef) , Shochu, Organic Green Tea and Black Vinegar Ku...
More
28 May 2007 17:19