Comparing Neither Out Far Nor In Deep and Waterfront Essay

Comparing and contrasting the subjects of Neither Out Far Nor In Deep by Robert Frost and Waterfront by Roo Borson.

People by the sea. On first reading Robert Frosts Neither Out Far Nor in Deep (Geddes, 55) and Roo Borsons Waterfront (Geddes, 763), the subject seems clear. Both authors describe, with cool detachment, people beside the sea. However, differences in form, use of imagery, diction and tone ultimately lead to subtle differences in the theme.

Perhaps the most visible difference between the two poems is their form. Borson uses a free verse form that varies even within the poem itself. The first two lines are complete sentences. Sentence three is written over three lines, with the first two of those lines demarcated by a comma. Thereafter, run-on lines are progressively used towards the end of the poem. This creates an increasingly meandering cadence, and particularly contrasts to the parallel phrasing of the opening three lines: The womens bodies / The men / The seawater (lines 1-3). In contrast, Frost uses a concise form of four iambic trimeter quatrains. The occasional, but very deliberate, use of two unstressed syllables within some lines quicken the pace, emphasizing the message to the reader. In a letter to John Bartlett in 1914, Frost wrote You listen for sentence sounds. (Geddes, 47). The mournful feeling of the poem is lightened by the use of alternating masculine end rhymes, which gives the poem an almost playful cadence.

Frosts connotative use of imagery describing The people along the sand (line 1) who turn their back on the land (line 3) even though The land may vary more; (line 9) suggests that, as a whole, the human race are disinclined to face reality and turn and look one way. This detached, impersonal view is continued throughout the poem with the repeated use of the third person they (lines 3, 4, 13 and 14). It seems that the hypnotic motion of the sea, where a ship keeps raising its hull (line 6) mimics the monotony of modern life. The people have a choice, but they choose to collectively turn from reality, to do nothing. The image of the wetter ground like glass / Reflects a standing gull (line 7-8) is a key moment in the poem, falling approximately half way through, after which the tone becomes more contemplative. It is not the single gull itself that Frost refers to, but its reflection, emphasizing the blurred shallowness of people who turn away from land and life. The gull is only doing what comes naturally; the people have a choice. It is ironic that Frost mentions only one gull. Gulls are usually in flocks; it is people who usually display individuality through their thoughts and actions.

Borsons use of imagery is more detailed. The reader is able to paint a mental picture of a sparkling urban seascape, upon which is scattered various sectors of a narcissistic society. Whereas Frost used the people or they in a more generic way, Borson has compartmentalized society across age and gender. We are told what the women, men, fishermen and middle-aged women choose to do. Meanwhile, / ignorant, the smelts plod into the nets. (line 8). This is a particularly significant image, just as the seagull is in Frosts poem. Smelts are small fish that are usually netted from a beach, and the way that Borson uses the word plod is a metaphor for the way that humanity plods through their blinkered lives. The fishermen only care about the fish (line 6), The men cant take their eyes off the women (line 2) and the middle-aged women sit with their eyes closed .

Both authors use similar diction with straightforward language and natural word order, although Frosts words produce a more abstract poem compared to Borsons more concrete vocabulary. Her effective use of alliteration, such as seawater spangles (line 3) and the m in middle-aged women in magenta (lines 9-10) enhances the flowing free form, adding a melancholy tone.

So, two authors have written about the same subject. Do the poems have the same theme? Well, they both convey the apathy of the human race, but there is a subtle difference. Frosts humans are treated as one body of people, rather like the single gull. The rather resigned tone of the final verse, They cannot look out far / They cannot look in deep shows the people united in their short-sighted shallowness - but doing nothing about it. Waterfront is an allegorical work, which on the surface describes what people are doing (as opposed to what they are not doing). But it portrays different facets of a self-indulgent society, indifferent to the needs of others. The final, rather damming, sentences describe the babies who havent finished materializing into the world (line 17), implying that it is only a matter of time before they, too, become molded.