Home Burial

“Now Close the Windows” by Robert Frost (1913)

Composed in 1892, this poem was published in Frost’s first collection, A Boy’s Will. The speaker is observing life outside the interior of their house from a window. They desire to “close the windows” (Line 1) to create a “hush” (Line 1) that equates with some personal “loss” (Line 4). The speaker’s action is similar to Amy’s dismay after the loss of her son in “Home Burial.” The speaker here feels a despondency that they know will last a long time. Although the source of the loss isn’t disclosed, the feelings of being trapped inside grief and the symbolism of the window are echoed in the latter poem. Frost did note that most of the work in A Boy’s Will was autobiographical in nature.

“The Telephone” by Robert Frost (1916)

“The Telephone” appears in Frost’s third book, Mountain Interval (1916), and combined the natural subject matter seen in A Boy’s Will (1913) with the dramatic narratives relying on dialogue from North of Boston (1914). Told strictly in dialogue form, the poem centers on how one partner hears the other in a moment of telepathy after venturing “as far as I could walk” (Line 1).