Question

source: judith oster, from the cambridge companion to robert frost, 2001, edited by robert faggen. not surprisingly, much of frosts poetry talk centered on the importance of metaphor. as might also be expected, the best of his comments on poetry or definitions of metaphor were themselves metaphor, for example: frost spoke of a poem as a napkin going into a napkin ring, with the ring as the poem and the napkin spreading out again for other people. another time he used the image of a current carrying the eel grass with it, combing it like hair; it thus combs it in different directions without uprooting it from its initial clarity, its fixed meaning. what to the poet is his “fixed meaning” would most probably be, to us, the words on the page, “holding down” our readings even as they are pushed and pulled by the “currents” of possible meaning. a similar “swaying” metaphor frost used was that of a boat at anchor.... what all these metaphors of... metaphor have in common is an underlying image of radiating (a term frost also used). words, metaphors, poems should radiate meaning(s) outward from the words on the page, becoming more than their literal selves, but never at the expense of losing their moorings, coming loose from the actual words and images that “anchor” them, or hold them “rooted” to the poets text. document analysis 1. what was the subject of much of frosts “poetry talk”? 2. what did frost often use in order to define or explain metaphor? 3. choose one of frosts “metaphors of a metaphor” from the first paragraph and, on a separate sheet of paper, draw a picture or diagram that shows how the metaphor works. 4. think of another “metaphor of a metaphor” which has the same “underlying image of radiating.” describe it clearly. 5. in this context, “radiate” means to move outward from a central point. in a poem, what is the central point from which the metaphor radiates? 6. how might this document be useful as you search for metaphor in frosts poetry? in other words, what is this document reminding you to do, or not do?

Explanation:

1. The first - sentence of the text states that much of Frost's poetry talk centered on the importance of metaphor.
2. Frost used various metaphors like a poem as a napkin, eel - grass being combed, etc. to define or explain metaphor.
3. For example, if we take the metaphor of a poem as a napkin going into a napkin ring, the napkin represents the poem and the napkin ring represents the constraints or the form that gives it structure. A drawing could show a napkin being placed into a ring.
4. An example of a metaphor of a metaphor with a radiating image could be a sunbeam spreading out from the sun. The sun is the central point, and the sunbeams are like the meanings radiating out from the words in a poem.
5. In a poem, the central point from which the metaphor radiates is the words on the page.
6. This document reminds us to look for multiple layers of meaning in Frost's poems, to consider how metaphors can have underlying images of radiating meaning, and to not lose sight of the literal words while exploring the possible meanings.

Answer:

1. The importance of metaphor.
2. Metaphors (such as a poem as a napkin, etc.).
3. For the napkin - poem metaphor: A drawing could show a napkin being placed into a napkin ring to represent the poem being given form.
4. A sunbeam spreading out from the sun, where the sun is the central point and sunbeams are the radiating meanings.
5. The words on the page.
6. It reminds us to look for multiple layers of meaning, consider radiating meanings of metaphors, and not lose sight of the literal words.