Home Burial by Robert Frost

When I picked up a stack of reading for my MFA graduate student residency I had no idea that one little poem could touch me so vividly. Home Burial, by Robert Frost.

I read the poem for a class on dialogue in literature. Home Burial was an example of dialogue used cleverly within poetry.

Once I started reading I realized that the action of the poem is the argument between a married couple. Their baby had died. The husband buried the child in a plot on what I imagine to be their family farm.

The couple are grieving very differently, they are hostile towards each other, and they sometimes seem like strangers. Marriage after the loss of a baby can be strained. The tragedy can bind two hearts together or tear them apart.

What I learned in class is that Robert Frost and his wife lost a child. I nodded slowly to myself, it made perfect sense. Only someone who had experienced this heartbreak first hand could write a poem that so clearly portrayed the fragile unravelling of communication, the pain that displays itself so differently between genders, between humans.

“Does Frost give the reader a sense that the characters in this poem will get through their grief?” my teacher asked.

A man spoke up. “I think they will. They will figure it out. Time will pass and the wife will get over it -”

“NO,” I yelled, not thinking before my mouth opened. “She will NOT get over it.”

My finger was pointing at the man, my eyes wide. Tears rose and fell. Everyone looked at me and then away. Most of them know my story. This man was not one of them.

I apologized to that man later that day and he acknowledged his poor wording. A part of me wished I hadn’t lost my temper. Another part was not sorry at all. My response was a genuine expression longing and love – and it taught me something about myself. For better or worse, the loss of my son Zachary will always be a part of me.

What do you think of the poem?