“IN A VALE” Presented by: Jelena Kukuruzovic & Jocelyn Tirado Robert Frost Presented by: Jelena Kukuruzovic & Jocelyn Tirado

BACKGROUND “In a Vale” appeared in Robert Frost’s first volume, “A Boys Will” Published in 1913. The 3 poems(Waiting, In a Vale, A Dream Pang) are in the middle of A Boys Will, they structure the whole volume of love and poetic making. Between the “sound” of love and a poets love of sound.

“A BOYS WILL” A Boys Will is a poetry collection by Robert Frost. It is Frost’s first book of poems, published by David Nutt in 1913. Following the success of North of Boston in 1914, Henry Holt and Company republished A Boys Will in 1915. North of Boston is a 1914 poetry collection by Robert Frost. It includes two of his most famous poems, "Mending Wall” and “After Apple-picking”.

DIFFICULT WORDS Vale- valley Fen- land covered wholly or partially with water Fain- gladly; willingly Vainly- ineffectual or successful Reeds- type of plants

CONNOTATIONS Personification is found in lines 15-17 “That the stars were faded away Before the last went, heavy with dew, Back to the place from which she came-” The speaker personifies by the stars by giving them female characteristics.

CONNOTATIONS Imagery is found in lines 7 and 8 “And for every kind there was a face, And a voice that has sounded in my room” The speaker uses imagery to show that because he was lonely, all he heard was the nature by the fen even if it had no sound because he felt that they wanted to be heard.

THEME The overall theme of “In a Vale” is a childhood journey. Throughout the poem, it is focused on the speaker, Robert Frost, explaining a time during his childhood and reflecting on it.

“ANALYSIS” “In a Vale” is a dream based fully on the past but how he regrets half of the things that he has done in his life. He finds peace when he is over looking land where nature is involved such as flowers and birds. He losses his mind when being surrounded by nature in the sense that the speaker lets his imagination run. Even though he dwells for the past he overcomes his fears and realizes that he is peaceful in the setting that he is in and continues to vent and let his imagination run.

CRITICISM Frost dated the poem between 1896 and 1901, he wrote in a letter to friend Sidney Cox in 1915 that “A place I passed at night alone something like twenty years ago made “In a Vale” then and there in my head and I wrote it down with few changes the next morning” When writing, Frost often refers back to this poem.