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The Discovery Of The Madeiras
Introduction:
The Discovery Of The Madeiras by Robert Frost is a narrative poem derived from Hackluyt is in the volume A Witness Tree, and uses the technique of the story within the story. The narration started by the poet and then, an omniscient narrator take the chord to elaborately decorated the storyline.
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| The Discovery Of The Madeiras |
Summary:
Two lovers who have run away from England are on board a ship. The captain tells the man a story about the brutal murder of a pair of lovers who were Negroes. Stung by the trivial teasing of the woman, the man tells her the story. The captain's story is of a supremely meaningful relationship in marriage in which love makes the lovers even in death triumph over the murderous crew. But the story only affects the woman in a disastrous way. She dies because the story has a terrible effect on her morbid sensibility. She dies, one might say, of a sort of moral, emotional, and intellectual paralysis. The man lives, but the experience has no meaning for him.
Critical Analysis:
The moral importance of a second rate humanity is translated into a commonplace adventure story and immortalised in an island named after the wrong person for the wrong reason. With shattering irony, even if unintentional, the woman's death takes place on a nameless island uninhabited by anyone except her lover with whom she can no longer communicate. The poem shows Frost's narrative gift. Its frightening quality is touched by a sense of humour in the description of the ship's movement.