Every poet has his own conception of writing poetry. If
we trace back the history of poetry, we can see that poets
have been taking many roles and assigned themselves
different missions. Sometimes they are introduced as
teachers, moralists, educationalists and guardians of
society. On other occasions, they appear as philosophers
and prophets who are concerned with moral values and
the good of society. While in some other times they act
like leaders and politicians who take the responsibility to
guide people to better future. As far as this paper is
concerned, the poet appears as a farmer who plants and
reaps ideas for his poems. Though Robert Frost and
Seamus Heaney belong to different nations and cultures,
they meet in this particular area. They are classified by
critics as nature poets; as they reflect the rural
experiences in their poetry. In some of their poetic works
they tried to link poetry to farming, and the reader can see
much of this by reading their poems.
For Robert Frost, poetry is life and throughout his
literary career he tried his best to link poetry to life and
life to poetry. He sees poetry as a combination between
mind and emotion. Metaphorically, writing poetry is a
marriage between mind and emotion. He once said:
If poetry isn’t understanding all, the whole world,
then it isn’t
worth anything. Young poets forget that poetry must
include
the mind as well as the emotions. Too many poets delude
themselves by thinking the mind is dangerous and must be left
out. Well, the mind is dangerous and must be left in.1
This combination between mind and emotion is
deepened, fathomlessly, in his own mind. According to
Frost’s conception of poetry, poetry must serve two
purposes; delight and wisdom. He sees the poem in this
way “A poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom |