Robert Frost

Bond and Free

Physical vs Abstract

Frost sets up a fundamental contrast between concrete Love (with 'hills and circling arms') and abstract Thought.

LOVE has earth to which she clings
With hills and circling arms about—
Wall within wall to shut fear out.
But Thought has need of no such things,
For Thought has a pair of dauntless wings.

Metaphorical Wings

Note the personification of Thought as a free, mobile entity with 'dauntless wings'—suggesting intellectual liberation.

On snow and sand and turf, I see
Where Love has left a printed trace
With straining in the world’s embrace.
And such is Love and glad to be.
But Thought has shaken his ankles free.
Thought cleaves the interstellar gloom
And sits in Sirius’ disc all night,
Till day makes him retrace his flight,
With smell of burning on every plume,
Back past the sun to an earthly room.
His gains in heaven are what they are.

Philosophical Tension

Final stanza suggests a paradox: Love's stillness might contain more profound understanding than Thought's restless searching.

Yet some say Love by being thrall
And simply staying possesses all
In several beauty that Thought fares far
To find fused in another star.
Source Wikipedia Poetry Foundation

Reading Notes

Embodied vs Transcendent Intelligence

Frost constructs an intricate philosophical dialogue between two modes of perception: Love as grounded and protective, Thought as mobile and exploratory.

The poem systematically contrasts these perspectives: Love is earthbound, creating 'wall within wall', while Thought moves freely—'shaken his ankles free', traversing interstellar spaces. This isn't just metaphor, but a profound meditation on different ways of knowing and experiencing the world.

Romantic vs Intellectual Knowing

The poem subtly challenges the hierarchy between emotional and intellectual understanding. While Thought 'cleaves' cosmic distances, the final stanza suggests Love might possess a deeper, more integrated wisdom.

Frost's genius lies in presenting this as an open question: Thought's cosmic travels might be less meaningful than Love's patient, rooted comprehension. The phrase 'fused in another star' hints that true understanding might require both movement and stillness.