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Love And A Question
A stranger came to the door at eve,
And he spoke the bridegroom fair.
He bore a green-white stick in his hand,
And, for all burden, care.
He asked with the eyes more than the lips
For a shelter for the night,
And he turned and looked at the road afar
Without a window light.
The bridegroom came forth into the porch
With, 'Let us look at the sky,
And question what of the night to be,
Stranger, you and I.'
The woodbine leaves littered the yard,
The woodbine berries were blue,
Autumn, yes, winter was in the wind;
'Stranger, I wish I knew.'
Within, the bride in the dusk alone
Bent over the open fire,
Her face rose-red with the glowing coal
And the thought of the heart's desire.
The bridegroom looked at the weary road,
Yet saw but her within,
And wished her heart in a case of gold
And pinned with a silver pin.
The bridegroom thought it little to give
A dole of bread, a purse,
A heartfelt prayer for the poor of God,
Or for the rich a curse;
But whether or not a man was asked
To mar the love of two
By harboring woe in the bridal house,
The bridegroom wished he knew.
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| Love And A Question |
Summary & Analysis
Introduction:
The poem Love And A Question by Robert Frost is from A Boy's Will, and presents an incident though the reader is left to guess what really happens. The realistic setting is well combined with an eerie atmosphere. A fine blend of a spooky and realistic elements is vividly shown here.
Summary:
A man and his young bride in a country house are disturbed suddenly "A stranger came to the door at eve". The stranger requests a night's shelter - more with his eyes and gestures than with words indicating that there is no other shelter nearby. The man does not know what to do - is he to allow the stranger in the bridal house and deny himself and his bride of the raptures of love, or is he to turn the stranger away into the inhospitable night? The dilemma is left unresolved; the reader may decide for himself whether love or charity won-either way, there is a possibility of unexpected developments, for the stranger seems a portentous figure of care and trouble.
Critical Analysis:
Frost is a poet whom one cannot easily categorize as an idyllic nature poet or as a rigidly realistic poet, In this poem Love And A Question, there are overtones of the ballad. However, Frost shows characteristic restraint in his beautiful picture of the young bride awaiting her husband in the dusk, bent over the open fire: "Her face rose-red with the glowing coal" and the radiance of anticipating the fulfillment of love.