TOW 6- The Figure a Poem Makes

            Robert Frost, a well-known and world-renowned poet, wrote an essay titled The Figure a Poem Makes. The topic of the essay, poetry, allows for Frost to automatically be considered credible because of his reputation. In his essay The Figure a Poem Makes, Frost speaks to any and all fans of poetry about what constitutes a good poem through the use of analogies and a pedantic tone.

            Throughout this essay, Frost employs a rather pedantic tone which assists in furthering his appeal to ethos by proving that he has a lot of knowledge about the topic. His use of poetry jargon such as “strict iambic” and “loose iambic” shows his audience that his message should be considered because he is obviously extremely familiar and maybe even an expert on this topic. He speaks in an educated way by using advanced vocabulary, which successfully portrays him as an advanced writer and automatically labels him as superior, allowing him to have a patronizing aura. This patronization further establishes Frost’s ethos by allowing him to maintain an air of superiority over his audience; forcing them to take his opinion as superior to theirs and therefore as the better opinion. In addition to a pedantic tone, Frost often speaks using analogous language. He says “the figure a poem makes…is the same as for love.” He asserts that “it assumes direction with the first line laid down, it runs a course of lucky events, and ends in a clarification of life.” This comparison of a poem to love appeals to logos by allowing his readers to compare something they might not necessarily be familiar with to something that everyone has experienced – love. Another instance of similar analogous language is when Frost asserts that a good poem can be “read…a hundred times [and] will forever keep its freshness as a metal keeps its fragrance.” The scent of metal, something subtle that is often overlooked, when compared with a poem, effectively conveys his message about the everlasting intricateness of a good poem. Overall, Frost’s use of a pedantic tone and analogous language effectively allows him to communicate his opinions as to what makes up a good poem.