Not To Keep Analysis

They sent him back to her. The letter came
Saying... And she could have him. And before
She could be sure there was no hidden ill
Under the formal writing, he was in her sight,
Living. They gave him back to her alive
How else? They are not known to send the dead
And not disfigured visibly. His face?
His hands? She had to look, and ask,
"What was it, dear?" And she had given all
And still she had all they had they the lucky!
Wasn't she glad now? Everything seemed won,
And all the rest for them permissible ease.
She had to ask, "What was it, dear?"

"Enough,"
Yet not enough. A bullet through and through,
High in the breast. Nothing but what good care
And medicine and rest, and you a week,
Can cure me of to go again." The same
Grim giving to do over for them both.
She dared no more than ask him with her eyes
How was it with him for a second trial.
And with his eyes he asked her not to ask.
They had given him back to her, but not to keep.

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do u know how i can draw a mental image with this poem?

| Posted on 2009-10-27 | by a guest

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Official letters to wives, parents or relatives of soldiers fighting at the front mostly contain bad news. The woman in this poem has received such a letter. Probably she has often been afraid that a letter like this would arrive one day.
Her first reaction after opening it is one of relief. The dots in line 2 suggest that she quikly runs through the letter untill she realises that her husband or son is not dead.
Her only thougt at first is that he is coming back. But soon she begins to doubt and worry. Are they telling her the truth, the whole truth? How bad is he? he may be on the point of death. Before she has time to find out, he is there. he has been sent home.
Again she shows the same reactions. He is alive! She realises that it is a silly thought, for he would not be brought home if he were dead. But how badly is he wounded? She does not see anything, so she has to ask.
He does not answer at once. Probably he is carried or helped into the house in the meantime. The short sentences show how quickly the thoughts cross the woman's mind. She remembers that when he went away to the war she felt that 'she had given all'. he meant everything to her, and she might never see him again. In all the time that she has been alone, she has come to think of the two of them seperately. Perhaps the loneliness had made her selfish: he, too, has given all. She realises this in line 10, when se corrects herself: instead of 'she'she should use 'they' again.
When se repeats her question, she hears that he will soon be well enough to go to the front again. Instead of joy about the fact that he will no gbe crippled for life, thay already feel the pain of having to say goodbye again, possibly for ever. She is no longer selfish now, when she thinks of what he will have to go through again.
The first word of his answer to her is 'enough'. It expresses how dreadful the experience must have been to him: the shock at the moment when the bullet hit him, the uncertainty about how bad it was when he lay wounded, waiting to be taken to the hospital. All this, or worse, he may have to experience again. He does not want te think about it, let alone talk about it, and she understands. We can see in this poem that Robert Frost does not use the poetic elements that often serve to make poetry more beautiful or melodious. There is no rhyme in the poem. The many run-on lines, the halting rhythm and the simple words create the impression of natural everyday speech, which the poet uses with great economy.

| Posted on 2009-10-13 | by a guest

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i Don't know what the hell that person before wrote, but I was curious to find what the lines, ' and all the rest with permissible ease' and 'the same Grim giving to do over for them both' and 'How was it with him for a second trial' mean.
But I'll just keep researching.

| Posted on 2009-08-06 | by a guest

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itz baat uh womin hooz huzbin haz bin woondid en da Rmy. dey cent hem bak 2 hur butt hee iz nott bak 2 stae

| Posted on 2009-04-20 | by a guest