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Personification and Imagery in Robert Frosts Once by the Pacific In the sonnet Once by the Pacific, Robert Frost describes an approaching storm with an underlying sense of gloom. At first glance Frosts poem seems to simply be describing the elements of a violent storm at sea. The poem contains literary conventions such as personification and imagery. Personification is used to transform the water into a menacing force and the imagery creates a dark and foreboding mood. These elements also create the dark tone of the poem and an obvious sense of foreshadowing, which adds to the emphasis of its climatic conclusion. Frost uses several writing techniques to create the powerful comparison of the violent storm to Gods final destruction of the earth.
The poem follows a Shakespearean or Elizabethan Sonnets form. It is composed of three quatrains, containing four lines each. Each one contains a different idea that builds on the one before it. The poems conclusion is delivered in a couplet, containing two lines. It is mainly delivered through an iambic pentameter of ten syllables per line. This smooth delivery of lines aids the poem in creating its eerie sense of foreboding disaster.
For example, the first few lines all contain ten syllables each. This forces the reader to read the poem in a controlled and slow manner, adding to its effect. The poem relies on the build up of a sense of doom and destruction through describing the brewing storm to compare the storm with the final destruction of the earth. This is accomplished through imagery and personification In the first quatrain of the poem imagery is used immediately to set the mood. The first two lines state: The shattered water made a misty din. Great waves looked over others coming in, In creating the spookiness of the misty din, the first two lines of the poem already set the gloomy tone.
Personification is used in the first quatrain of the poem as well. The speaker refers to the water as having human qualities of destruction to do something to the shore. Already we are prepared for some kind of a tragedy to strike. The second quatrain of the poem continues to build up a sense of an arising crisis. The clouds hanging low in the skies are compared to hair blowing into the gleam of eyes. Imagery is again used to create a picture of this storm in our minds.
We can now envision waves pounding in and dark clouds covering the sky. The reference to the gleam of eyes lead us to think there is more to this story then just a violent storm. In this quatrain the shore is now being personified as lucky in being backed by a cliff. This continues to heighten our cautious fear of the menacing water and waves, and of what is inevitably coming. A stronger sense of danger and fury is apparent in the third quatrain of this poem.
We are delivered a more specific message in the lines: It looked as if a night of dark intent Was coming, and not only a night, an age. Someone had better be prepared for rage. Suddenly we become aware that this poem is not only about a storm coming in. Rhyme is used to emphasize the powerful meaning of the lat two lines in this quatrain. We now know that an age of destruction is coming upon us but at this point in the poem it is still uncertain to what exactly is being implied. Finally, in the last couplet of the poem, Frost reveals the true meaning of the threatening implications throughout the poem: There would be more than ocean-water broken Before Gods last Put out the Light was spoken.
Christianity describes the end of the world as a time when God will destroy all beings and things upon the earth who did not have faith in Him. Frosts poem describes the brewing of a powerful and destructive storm and compares it to this destruction and vengeance of Gods. Frost seems to be informing his readers of this message in a terrifying and convincing manner in order to describe the urgency of it...
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