An Invisible Wasteland: An Existentialist Approach To Robert Frost’s Pastoral Poetry

Robert Frost is one of the greatest poets in the 20th century. He devoted himself to his lifelong career. Frost has a good command of colloquial speech. With simple words, his poems conveyed profound and philosophical themes. He is favored by the American readers. He ran a farm and lived in the rural area when he was young. These life experiences inspired his love of nature and the rural life. Many of his poems feature nature and the rural life, and are usually read as belong to the pastoral tradition.This thesis uses Kierkegaard’s existentialism theory as the framework and deals with Robert Frost’s modern consciousness in terms of alienation, angst and authenticity. Existentialism is a philosophy, studying the meaning and way of man’s existence and revealing the man-man relationship, and the relationship between man and the world. Alienation, angst, and authenticity are three significant concepts of existentialism. When describing nature and farmers in nature, Frost shows a lot of existential concerns. By analyzing the sense of alienation and angst, as well as the inauthentic way of living depicted in Frost’s poetry, this thesis aims to reveal the predicament, the crisis, and the disillusionment encountered by individuals in the modern society.This thesis is composed of three chapters. The first chapter analyzes the features of inaccessibility of nature, estrangement between human and society and man’s deviation from himself. The three aspects probe into man’s alienation and existential predicament in Frost’s pastoral poetry. The second chapter deals with man’s impulse to commit suicide, fear of the uncertain future and weariness of disorder. Angst disturbs their healthy psychology. They are on the edge of psychological collapse. Angst leads to Existential Crisis. The third chapter demonstrates the indifference between human beings, acceptance of the false values and the impulse to abandon one’s religious faith. These situation leads to man’s inauthentic existence and existential disillusion.Frost’s pastoral poetry was once misinterpreted by readers who thought his poems were relaxing and enjoyable. But through the analysis of his poetry, it is easy to find the dark and melancholy elements. Nature in Frost’s pastoral poetry is mostly indifferent and cruel, which suggests the spiritual barrenness, desolation and disorder of the modern world, and his works can be seen as depicting an invisible wasteland.