The Gift Outright by Robert Frost
"The Gift Outright" is a poem by Robert Frost, notable for its reading at John F. Kennedy's inauguration in 1961. In sixteen lines of iambic pentameter, Frost explores the complex relationship between Americans and their land, articulating a narrative that reflects on the nation’s history and identity. The central theme is encapsulated in the line, "The land was ours before we were the land's," which emphasizes the notion that the physical land of America predated the true ownership by its citizens. Frost personifies the land, referring to it as "she," to illustrate the interconnectedness between the land and its people. The poem examines the historical context in which Americans came to regard themselves as the rightful inhabitants of the land, suggesting that this relationship required sacrifices and a form of surrender. Throughout the poem, Frost employs a conversational tone and traditional poetic devices, creating a sense of familiarity while addressing significant themes of citizenship, responsibility, and the evolution of America's identity. Ultimately, "The Gift Outright" juxtaposes historical reflection with a vision of the future, inviting readers to consider the implications of their relationship with the land they inhabit.
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The Gift Outright by Robert Frost
First published: 1942, in A Witness Tree
Type of poem: Narrative
The Poem
Robert Frost’s “The Gift Outright,” perhaps most famous for having been read by the author at President John F. Kennedy’s inauguration on January 20, 1961, discusses the relationship between Americans and America. In its sixteen iambic pentameter lines, the poem questions and affirms Americans’ history as a nation.
Frost begins by setting out the major argument of the poem: “The land was ours before we were the land’s.” He proceeds to explain and clarify that statement. The physical land of America, the plot of earth itself, acts as a major player in the work, the “she” and “her” of his lines. Personifying the land this way results in making it an equal partner with the “we” and “our,” the American citizens who act as the other player.
Frost summarizes the history and politics of the formation of the country by elaborating on this relationship, the “gift” of the title that Americans could not accept without surrendering to it. In the metaphor of the poem, the land gave itself to its citizens while America was still a British colony, so that its people did not “possess” it but merely inhabited it. The first half of the poem sets forth this concept. The second half explains what happened to make Americans “her people.” According to the poem, the “gift” of the title had to be earned by both sides before becoming a gift “outright.”
In this poem, one sees many distinctive characteristics of Frost’s poetry: the conversational tone, the words of everyday speech, and the literary devices that create the meter, rhythm, and “sound” of his poetry. While succeeding in sounding like everyday speech, “The Gift Outright” employs many traditional poetic devices; in fact, one of the greatest achievements of Frost’s poetry results in the straightforwardness of its prose and word choices belying the poetic nature of the work itself.
The poem summarizes early American history while also making a political and human statement about the responsibilities of citizenship and ownership. Americans, he argues, cannot claim title to the land without making sacrifices and contributing labor to it. While on one hand citizens “possess” the country, on the other they must assume the responsibilities and commitment to its growth and success. This duality of rights and responsibilities appears in line 10, when he refers to it as “our land of living.” Americans not only live there and derive their “living” from it but also must accept the “surrender” implicit in this relationship.
Frost combines the political and the personal, the narrative and the poetic, the historical and the present to create a poem with clear expectations of what being an American entails. While greatly emphasizing the past, Frost ends the poem with a direct relationship to the future—what the country “would become.”
Forms and Devices
In its sixteen lines, “The Gift Outright” presents a straightforward commentary on the history of the country, beginning literally with the land, the earth itself. Throughout, Frost personifies the physical earth, the “she” of the poem. Citizens of the country and the country itself engage in a relationship, with each side claiming ownership, although on different timetables, of the other. Frost relies on the argument—the recounting of history—to carry the meaning; therefore, one does not find heavy use of symbolism or double meanings. Given the conversational tone, the choice of straightforward words, and the lack of rhyme, at first glance the poem may seem rather “unpoetic” in its structure and style. However, Frost carefully crafts that very casualness. He combines meter and sound to create memorable and beautiful phrases, such as “vaguely realizing westward” and “unstoried, artless, unenhanced.”
The poem has no stanza breaks; however, rhetorically, it can be divided in two. In its simplest terms, the poem says that the land welcomed and possessed settlers for more than one hundred years before they welcomed and possessed the land. Only with “surrender” and the “gift…of war” did the relationship become reciprocal. Lines 1-8 set forth the first half of that argument, expanding and explaining his first line. Lines 9-16 set forth the second half. Here Frost develops his narrative to expand and explain the change. While variations occur, Frost uses regular meter (iambic pentameter). One of Frost’s greatest achievements was making such regular poetry sound like conversational speech, artistry easy to overlook because of its success.
Frost uses balance in sentences, rhythm, and repetitions of sounds to create the conversational tone of the poem. In the first line, he sets up the two sides: “The land was ours before we were the land’s./ She was our land more than a hundred years/ Before we were her people.” The narrative goes back and forth between the land’s relationship to humans and their relationship to it. Repetitive sentence structure creates balanced sentences and rhetorical oppositions. Examples can be found in lines 1-3 with the “before” clauses, lines 6 and 7 with “possessed,” lines 8-10 with “withholding,” and lines 12 and 16 with “such as.”
Frost also employs repetition of vowel sounds (assonance), beginning with the first lines: “land,” “was,” “than,” and “we,” “ were,” “years,” “her.” Vowel repetitions are used again in lines 6 and 7: “Possessing what we were still unpossessed by,/ Possessed by what we now no more possessed.” The poem uses such repetitions of sounds throughout. Sometimes the same word repeats, as noted above. Other times Frost repeats certain sounds, as the st in “still unstoried” in line 15 and the ou in “ourselves outright” in line 12. Frost also uses the repetition of initial consonant sounds (alliteration): “possessing” and “possessed” in lines 6 and 7; “we,” “were,” “withholding,” and “weak,” in line 8; “land of living” in line 10; and “forthwith found” and “salvation in surrender” in line 11.
Bibliography
Bloom, Harold, ed. Robert Frost. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2003.
Burnshaw, Stanley. Robert Frost Himself. New York: George Braziller, 1986.
Faggen, Robert. Robert Frost and the Challenge of Darwin. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1997.
Galbraith, Astrid. New England as Poetic Landscape: Henry David Thoreau and Robert Frost. New York: Peter Lang, 2003.
Gerber, Philip L. Robert Frost. Rev. ed. Boston: Twayne, 1982.
Lathem, Edward Connery. Robert Frost: A Biography. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1981.
Meyers, Jeffrey. Robert Frost: A Biography. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1996.
Poirier, Richard. Robert Frost: The Work of Knowing. New York: Oxford University Press, 1977.
Potter, James L. The Robert Frost Handbook. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1980.
Pritchard, William H. Frost: A Literary Life Reconsidered. New York: Oxford University Press, 1984.
Thompson, Lawrance Roger, and R. H. Winnick. Robert Frost: A Biography. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1982.