Frost at Midnight

Created @June 14, 2023 8:49 PM

Class 4EN104

Type In-Class Notes

Materials

Reviewed

Semester 2

Topic Romanticism and Modernism

Divinity
The divinity in nature

Nature is part of God’s language and is able to redeem humans by educating on the importance of existence
while allowing people to find spiritual fulfilment

“Lakes and shores / And mountain crags” - Natural imagery

Demonstrates how God as an entity communicates to the physical world through the natural world
he urges his son and the reader towards a supernatural understanding of the natural as extending beyond
the realm of the five senses and the rational to a pantheistic, time-transcendant (“eternal”), unifying vision of
the inseparability of nature, man, and imagination.

“Himself in all, and all things in himself. Great universal Teacher!” - Tricolon

Extends the idea of pantheism

Allow people to immerse themselves into nature, filling their souls with the language and essence of God,
allowing them to develop positively.
Nature educates humans about existence, by experiencing the divinity in nature, individuals can find peace
and fulfilment amongst themselves, developing spiritually.

“Whose puny flaps and freaks the idling Spirit” - Personification

Recognises in himself and nature the idea of pantheism, and the capacity of the divine to manipulate, shape
and affect human decisions, creating a redeeming quality for individuals

STC demonstrates how the divine in nature has the ability to guide humans to bypass rational, casual
thinking and bend reality, allowing humans to transcend time and space to the past and find spiritual
fulfilment

Nature vs City
“In the great city, pent 'mid cloisters dim” - Imagery

Describes his upbringing as a stifling and deeply lonely experience, bound together by the claustrophobic
atmosphere of the city

The city crowds out nature which the poet sees as redemption, and feels he is isolated in the urban
environment, longing to leave

“The Frost performs its secret ministry” - Personification

Frost at Midnight 1
 As the poet marvels at the beauty of winter of the evening and silence emanating within the village… “quote”

The redeeming power of nature compared to the city allows for the poet to have a moment of clarity and
reflection

The solitude and silence of nature creates a sense of calmness in the reader, allowing for an experience of
the redeeming power through a moment of deep thinking and meditation

“wander like a breeze / By lakes and sandy shores” - Enjambment

Seeks a better environment for his child to grow up in, namely nature, compared to him who grew up
constricted by the unforgiving and isolating city

Sense of fluency, peacefulness, and redemption that comes with nature

He hopes for his son to immerse in the redeeming power of nature filled with freedom and fulfilment within
the natural world

Frost at Midnight 2