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Robert FrostA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
The poem is relatively short and expresses the feelings of Frost, making it a lyric. As Frost’s tone and diction aren’t clear-cut, the poem works as a riddle, and the ambiguous words become pieces that the reader must interpret. The poem also meets the criteria for the elegy genre, with Frost reflecting on America’s past as if it were a departed friend or family member.
Frost isn’t the speaker of the poem, as the speaker remains part of an ambiguous “we.” The plural pronoun indicates the speaker is talking for Americans, and “the land” (Line 1) is the United States of America. The context—Kennedy’s inauguration—supports the thesis that the speaker is American and is anointing themselves as a representative for other Americans. In other words, the speaker symbolizes the voice of the United States and its citizens. However, the speaker’s beliefs could push readers to separate themselves from the “we,” if they don’t agree with the poem’s message.
The title, “The Gift Outright,” indicates a central theme—The Positives and Negatives of Gifts—while also previewing the speaker’s subversive
By Robert Frost
Acquainted with the Night
Robert Frost
After Apple-Picking
Robert Frost
A Time To Talk
Robert Frost
Birches
Robert Frost
Dust of Snow
Robert Frost
Fire and Ice
Robert Frost
Mending Wall
Robert Frost
Nothing Gold Can Stay
Robert Frost
October
Robert Frost
Once by the Pacific
Robert Frost
Out, Out—
Robert Frost
Putting in the Seed
Robert Frost
Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening
Robert Frost
The Death of the Hired Man
Robert Frost
The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost
West-Running Brook
Robert Frost