Title: the analysis of Frost’s use of tone and diction to make the messages in “Mending wall”, “The road not taken”, and “Stopping by woods on a snowy evening” understandable.
I. Introduction
a. Grabber- According to Frost’s biography, most readers who look in his poems fail to search beyond the words and are blinded by the negative impressions they give off. However, Frost depicts sincere messages through the simplicity of his words.
b. Thesis- Frost uses diction and tone to his greatest advantage to carry out his message within the poems.
c. Reasons-
c.1. Uses teasing and serious choices of words and attitudes to expose the silliness of an unnecessary barrier (mending wall).
c.2. Uses diction and tone that relate to peacefulness and relief that can convey the theme of the hardest decisions made in life (The road not taken).
c.3. Uses diction and tone to portray the zeal and willing mind that is the result of overcoming an obstacle. (stopping by woods on a snowy evening)
II. First body paragraph
a. Transition and first reason- Initially, Frost uses his play on words and tone such as a shift from mischievous to serious to channel his message throughout the poem.
a.1. Fact: In lines 23 to 27, Frost through the speaker explains in personification of objects that there is no need for the wall to be up because the chance of the speaker crossing over to the neighbor’s property and causing a disturbance. However, the neighbor is stubborn in his ways and keeps the barrier.
a.2. Analysis: This tone leads to me to believe that the very existence of the fence is pointless without any purpose. In a way it shows that their differences (“he is all pine and I am apple orchard) is another barrier keeping the distance between them. The tone gives off frustration as a result of the hard-headed pine building up his wall to high for his neighbor to climb over and finally interact as friendly neighbors (such as eating the pines under his tree)
a.3. Fact: In lines 28 to 32, the words and phrases such as mischief and put a notion in his head set up the diction as teasing when the speaker wants the make the neighbor realize the reason for putting up the wall instead of building it without question.
a.4. Analysis: This diction might be the result of the annoyance of the speaker. When he decides to make the neighbor to face his own thoughts and ask himself what is the true purpose behind the existence of the fence. This can also call attention to memories of when parents would ask you why you would want a certain toy and when the answer “just because” wouldn’t cut it. The neighbor is using this unsatisfactory excuse against the speaker, when in fact he himself does not know why the fence is there, but does know he wants to remain in his stubborn ways.
a.5. Closing sentence for paragraph: Therefore, Frost uses diction and tone in the voice of his speaker to display that the message is that barriers are built to keep distance for a certain reason, but without the reason they are unnecessary.
III. Second body paragraph
a. Transition and second reason-Additionally, Frost uses his choice of words and phrases and tones in a relieved and desperate way to depict the theme.
a.1. Fact: In lines 16 to 20, the speaker had finally made a decision on their own and chose the one not many selected after many years the speaker lives to tell the story that changed their life.
a.2. Analysis: This tone reminds me of the way grandparents rock back and forth in their chair and get the children to gather around to tell a story. To reel in the audience they would lay on the suspense and thrill but then end it with a happy ending. Each time the speaker tells the story, they get to relive the experience of how they dodged a bullet.
a.3. Fact: According to the third stanza, the speaker has no one to copy his decision off of so they are yet again alone in this judgment. And once the choice is made it will run its course and there will be no turning back.