1. PRESENTED BY: AGUSTIN GUERRERO, SALVADOR DELGADO AND ASHLEY TIRADO AN ENCOUNTER

2. BACKGROUND The poem first appeared in the November 1916 issue of the Atlantic Monthly Collected in An Mountain Interval “Weather Breeder” is the day after the storm Specter is a ghost Calypso is a small fairy (e.x. Tinkerbell)

3. SUMMARY The main speaker is searching for the calypso orchid and on the way he is captivated by a telephone pole and its wires. He begins to think about the origin of the telephone pole. He questions its purpose by the swamp and has a conversation with the telephone pole.

4. FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE Choked with oil of cedar and scurf of plants (line 5) The speaker is uncomfortable at this point in time because of the encounter with the telephone pole. The words such as “choked” show that the speaker has begun to feel trapped and this makes the speaker uncomfortable.

5. SYMBOLISM Looked up toward heaven, and there against the blue, Stood over me a resurrected tree (lines 11 and 12) The tree is symbolizing the telephone pole which has been resurrected or, brought back to life as a telephone pole Frost continues to say A tree that had been down and raised again – a barkless spectre. This symbolizes the pole because poles have no bark the speaker also says that is has been down and raised again meaning the tree has been cut down in order to be reformed as a telephone pole.

6. PERSONIFICATION “You here?” I said. “Where aren’t you nowadays” And what’s the news you carry – if you know? And tell me where you’re off for – Montreal? Me? I’m not off for anywhere at all. (lines19-22) The main speaker is talking to the telephone pole and I saw the strange position of his hands – up at his shoulders, dragging yellow strands of wire with something in it from men to me (lines 16-18) The main speaker personifies the tree by saying it has hands and shoulders and is carrying this from man to man.

7. ATTITUDE Throughout the poem, the speaker maintains a curious attitude The speaker is curious about the placement of the pole. This alludes to the advancements in technology at the time which the speaker is curious about because the speaker wants to know why the telephone pole had to be placed there and disrupt the nature around it.

8. TITLE After analyzing the poem, it is evident that the “Encounter” is truly between the speaker and new technology. This is evident in lines 17-22 when the speaker is having a conversation with the poles and says “dragging yellow strands of wire with something in it from men to me” the wire is dragging messages between people from different parts of the world.

9. THEME The theme of this poem is advancements in technology The advancements in technology at the time made the speaker uncomfortable because the cedar swamp was a place that the speaker could be alone in and feel content however, now the telephone pole has invaded this privacy and the speaker feels threatened by this.

10. FINAL MESSAGE Robert Frost is sending a message to the reader of humans destruction of nature. Technology is advancing at such a rapid pace that nature can no longer keep up with it. It brings discomfort to those connected to nature.