Two Tramps in Mud Time (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Robert Frost
- First Published: 1934
- Type of Work: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: Class conflict, Human rights, Depression, economic, Class consciousness, 1930’s, New England, Tramps or hoboes, Work or workers, Winter, Spring
The Poem
Robert Frost’s well-known poem “Two Tramps in Mud Time” is made up of tightly rhymed (ababcdcd) iambic tetrameter lines; nevertheless, the nine stanzas sound relaxed and anecdotal. The speaker/poet tells of a moment during the Depression when two tramps caught him in his backyard and challenged him briefly on an ethical point: Presumably, there are needy workers who chop wood for a living, and Frost is “playing” with another person’s work. At the very worst, he is stealing a job from someone.
The poem begins with the sudden appearance of the...
[The entire page is 1465 words long]
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