Criticism > Contemporary Literary Criticism > Frost, Robert (Vol. 13) - Robert B. Thompson

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ROBERT B. THOMPSON

Coming in his final collection, In the Clearing, "Accidentally on Purpose" is a philosophical dispensation for the aged Frost. As such, it describes the fundamental uncertainty that underlies his post-romantic individuality. He admits the universe is "but the Thing of things, / The things but balls all going round in rings," but attributes to "They" the belief that "all was rolling blind / Till accidentally it hit on mind"; that, in fact, "the Omnibus / Had no real purpose till it got to us."

The fourth stanza indicates what appears, at first glance, to be Frost's denial of such a view: "Never believe it. At the very worst / It must have had the purpose from the first / To produce purpose as the fitter bred: / We were just purpose coming to a head." Considered in light of the earlier poetry, how are we to take this admonition to "Never believe it"? Has the poet gleamed some producer of purpose outside himself, or is he only...

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1. Introduction
2. Amy Lowell
3. Mark Van Doren
4. Louis Untermeyer
5. John Ciardi
6. Lawrence Thompson
7. Richard Eberhart
8. Randolph Perazzini
9. Robert B. Thompson
10. Laurence Goldstein
11. Copyright