I love the poetry of Robert Frost who loved his country and wrote many poems about its landscapes, culture and people. This is one of his most patriotic poems, which presents American history since the days of colonialism.
It was written in 1941 and he recited it at a university college, then it was published in 1942, but the most famous ‘outing’ for this poem was at the Inauguration of President Kennedy. On an icily cold day, Frost was present at the ceremony. He had planned to read a different poem first, but the winter sun reflected on the paper so brightly he could not read his own words, and instead he recited The Gift Outright (a slight change was made to the last line to make it even more positive). It was met with cheering and applause, although today’s audience reaction might not be the same.
The Gift Outright by Robert Frost
The land was ours before we were the land’s.
She was our land more than a hundred years
Before we were her people. She was ours
In Massachusetts, in Virginia,
But we were England’s, still colonials,
Possessing what we still were unpossessed by,
Possessed by what we now no more possessed.
Something we were withholding made us weak
Until we found out that it was ourselves
We were withholding from our land of living,
And forthwith found salvation in surrender.
Such as we were we gave ourselves outright
(The deed of gift was many deeds of war)
To the land vaguely realizing westward,
But still unstoried, artless, unenhanced,
Such as she was, such as she would become.
The poem is now more controversial. The opening lines give the idea that before European settlement, the land was uninhabited, even “unstoried”. But Frost does not shy away from all unpleasantness in the past – he writes of “many deeds of war”, for example. The lines of the poem are highly ambiguous, leading to many different interpretations. However, it is clear that the overall feeling of the poem is a nationalistic one.
Written not long after WWII and the Great Depression, he wanted his poem to bring a sense of hope and to encourage everyone, old settlers and new migrants, to ‘give themselves’ to their new land and really feel like Americans. Frost is hopeful about his country’s growth and economic prosperity.
You can listen to it, read by Frost himself here:
Do you think patriotic poetry can stand the test of time? Leave a comment.
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John Byrne
Dear Susannah,
I was first introduced to the poetry of Robert Frost at UWA in 1962
whilst studying Eng.Lit.110. The lecturer played LP records of Frost reading his work
and this brought the poems alive for me.
Frost gifted his poem to JFK.
See: “For John F. Kennedy His Inauguration
Gift Outright of
“The Gift Outright”
With some Preliminary History in Rhyme”
Published in “Robert Frost/In The Clearing”
4to/ London, 1962,Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Best wishes,
John
Susannah Fullerton
Thanks so much for sharing the inscription of the gift, John. That’s very special. The Kennedys were big supporters of the arts, unlike the current President!
Hope all is well with you?
Dominic
This poem is very nationalistic, but the last line is curious, because it seems to suggest that the Wild West was not won but rather maintained its original status.
Susannah Fullerton
Yes, it’s as if he was wanting to leave his options open right at the end.
Janet
This cannot be a short comment.
At our beginnings, slavery was practiced all over the world. Africans sold their own people to others. So slavery was not unique to the U.S. Also, We are the only country as far as I know that fought a bitter Civil War and lost many and one of the reasons was to try to end slavery here.
I was once on a bus having just seen the movie, A Passage to India. On the bus with me, also having seen the movie, were an upper class Indian couple. I asked, “What do YOU make of a movie like that?” The woman’s response gave me an insight that stood the test of time. She said, “You know, the English are very hard on themselves. There was India ripe for the pickings. And if we wanted to learn from them, we could have learned how to conduct ourselves as a free people because they did not kill us all and they did not plunder our country and they showed us the wherewithal to learn from their free government behavior. Someone was going to come along and take us over and we were very lucky that it turned out to be the English.”
Thinking about America, populated bu Indians before we got there, I thought of her remarks. Someone was going to come into this new land and it turned out to be the English again. Those Indians had hard times and we had our disagreements, for sure, and some were of the Indians’ making. But if they stayed here, they now have the advantage of living in the freest, most productive country in the world. It turned out to be an advantage for them.
I do not agree with those who say we stole land from the Indians. Like that woman said, someone was going to come along.
I am delighted with our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution . This country is a miracle.
Therefore I do not agree that Frost’s Poem is controversial today. I am terrified, as a matter of fact the way our Democrat party is now Anti, American, anti Constitutionalist, pro Islam, pro Communist, anti capitalist. We need a healthy two party system and today’s Democrat Party is disgusting. I fear for our future unless things get better.
My two cents.
Susannah Fullerton
Thanks for your thought-provoking reply, Janet. I was intrigued by the comment from the Indian couple on the bus.
History is so full of one group of people taking over another, and I personally think it is more important to look forward than constantly looking back. We have the same thing here in Australia with Aboriginal people, who were often badly treated, but who were also given the gift of a written language and British technology and much more. I feel there is too much blaming going on as to the awful things the British did here, without remembering that they also brought much good. Countries taken over by the Spanish in the time of the Inquisition had a far worse time of it than did lands taken over by the British, who brought their language, roads, engineers, literature and much else to such places as India. I love the fact that Australia ahs a British heritage which will always mean far more to me than any Aboriginal heritage.
However, perhaps our views are not ‘woke’ enough today and a short search online will show that Frost’s fabulous poem is controversial for many. I think a big problem in our world today is that people are not tolerant enough of views different from their own. Difference is something we should celebrate, not condemn.
I do agree that your Democratic party badly needs a good leader. Let’s hope the right person will come along.
By the way, I have had the joy of visiting Frost’s farm in New Hampshire. What a beautiful part of the world. I found the visit so moving and marvelled at all the amazing poems he wrote while farming that land.