Introduction of the Poem:
"Two Tramps in Mud Time" is one of the best - known poems of "A Further Range", a volume of poems, first published in 1936. What strikes us about the poem is that the poem is a radiant evidence of Frost's visual imagination coupled with psychological insight into human beings. The poem is dialectic between the poet's avocation and vocation. The poet states it very clearly that his object is to unite his avocation and vocation he wants them to be as inextricably interfused as ‘two eyes make one in sight’. The last line of the poem is an invocation to heaven: we are not clear whether it is the heaven of orthodox Christianity or merely a desirable state of existence as conceived by Frost. We might speculate further - heaven may very well be just another name for God.
Summary of the Poem:
This poem has been composed by Robert Frost. It is an autobiographical poem in which the poet describes his action of wood - cutting. It is about the rainy season when the road has become muddy. As he was cutting wood two men came there. One of them shouted and asked him to cut the blocks of wood by “hitting them hard”. The poet knew why one of them had remained behind and let his friend go on his way. That man said about him that his purpose to stay there was to take the work of wood cutting from the poet.
The poet was cutting the wood from the Oak tree in the shape of large blocks. He was cutting every piece as large as the block of a seller. As the poet hit the tree, the pieces fell down as if they were some falling pieces from the rock. He knew the place where he should hit with greater force. He was making use of his destructive feelings of his heart by hitting the blocks of wood with his hard - strokes. He added that he was a God - fearing and law abiding man, so he was observing self - control because he had learnt to control his violent feelings. It was on that day when he was showing a sense of violence which had been hidden in his heart of hearts for a long time. He was expressing his feelings of violence by hitting hard on those lifeless blocks of wood. He was doing so with an idea of common good.
Describing the weather the poet says that then the sun was shining brightly and it was giving warmth to the people of the world but at the same time the cold wind was also blowing. It is a common feature in the month of April when on a particular day when the sun is shining but the wind does not blow, so the weather becomes hot. On such a hot day a person feels that it is the month of May because of greater heat. Soon after this, the sun goes behind the clouds and the cold wind starts blowing as if that wind is coming directly from the snow - covered hill – peaks. If you speak the truth it is due to the fact that a cloud has covered the particular part of the sunlit area. In such a cold weather a person may feel that he has gone two months behind that is from the hot month of May to the colder month of March.
The poet further says that a blue - bird arrives there in a gentle way and sits in the tree. Soon the bird flutters its wings and sings a sweet song in its slow voice. Its reason is that even a single flower has not yet blossomed. The flakes of snow are falling lightly showing that the winter is pretending to be sleeping like a possum (Possum is an animal which pretends to be lifeless on the arrival of a person). According to the poet the blue bird is not blue in colour but it is of very happy nature. In the last line of this stanza the poet says that the blue bird does not advise any flower to blossom at the risk of deceptive weather which may change any time.
The poet says that the people search for water everywhere in the month of summer because there is the scarcity of water due to hot weather of April. He says that the magic wand of witches is needed to find out the right location of water in summer - time. Every pit made by the wheels of a mechanical carriage, is a small river in flowing. Secondly, a pond of water has gathered under the foot marks of animals who have passed from there. Though such scenes are presenting a happy sight of water but it would not last for long. Soon frost would come out from underground after the sun has set. Then that water would appear with its bitter teeth.
In such a pleasant weather, the poet was feeling very happy in doing the hard work of cutting wood. The happiness of the poet increased more when those two passing men wanted to do that work of wood - cutting. It is a fact that a person loves to do a work, or have a thing when he knows that many persons are daring to do that work, or have the same thing. He was feeling very happy as if he had never felt before the weight of an axe with his firm feet on the ground, the gentle movement of his arms - muscles, or the light perspiration after the hard manual work in the hot weather of spring season.
The two tramps who came to that place where the poet was cutting wood from the tree had come from an unknown place. It was clear from their faces that they had slept in the open, so they were coming directly from a lumber - camp. There they used to do the work of wood - cutting in some forest. They were professional wood - cutters, so they were expert in the art of wood - cutting. They regarded the poet as a novice as well as a foolish man by his strange style of wood - cutting. They regarded the art of wood - cutting as their right. They had judged the poet as a new and untrained wood - cutter because they could know it well by their previous experience.
No conversation passed between the persons of two sides. The two tramps knew that they could make their point of view clear to the poet by staying there for some time. Their argument was appealing to the poet. They asserted what was only hobby, or pleasure for the poet, it was their regular occupation. As they uttered these words, the poet was really impressed. What was a work of sport for him, it was the means of earning their bread and butter (living). Comparatively, it was their first right to do the work of wood - cutting which was a means of their livelihood.
Both love and need, according to the poet, cannot be separated because both are essential in human life. One cannot be successful without the other. Need is better than love, so perfection can be found with the union of both work and play. The poet was cutting wood because it was necessary for him to control his violent feelings. He did not like the separation of pleasure and work. In this way he liked to unite together both his avocation and vocation. In the same way, as the two eyes of a person work and see a particular thing in a united way. Only then the image of that thing can be rightly made in the human mind through his two eyes. The poet again says that a person does something out of need, if he loves it , it does not remain work anymore . At this point of time, a person can do his, or her work with the maximum perfection. Both men and women as mortal beings do their work as long as they live in this world. In the concluding lines of this poem, the poet makes it very clear that the ultimate aim of all persons is to achieve immortality and reach heaven, the kingdom of God only with His mercy. Then they can live in the company of God happily. His such aim can be achieved by doing something great and important with enough attention, interest and true love.
Critical Appreciation of the Poem:
"Two Tramps in Mud Time" is one of the best known poems of "A Further Range", a volume of poems, first published in 1936. What strikes us about the poem is that the poem is a radiant evidence of Frost's visual imagination coupled with psychological insight into human beings. The poem is dialectic between the poet's avocation and vocation. The poet states it very clearly that his object is to unite his avocation and vocation -- he wants them to be as inextricably interfused as “two eyes make one is sight”. The last line of the poem is an invocation to heaven: we are not clear whether it is the heaven of orthodox Christianity or merely a desirable state of existence as conceived by Frost. We might speculate further - heaven may very well be just another name for God.
"Two Tramps in Mud Time" is a poem loaded with suggestivity so far as its theme goes but the poet has balanced it by choosing a form that is simple and comes home to the reader - story inverse. The poem is in first person and the poet himself is the pivotal point of all thought and action. The core of the poem is the clash and conflict between two opinions or convictions - the convictions of the poet and those held by the tramps.
While the poet was working hard (splitting wood), two strangers seeming to come out of the mud, approached him and one of them asked the poet to hit very hard.
The poet interpreted the tramp as meaning that he should work for his livelihood. The poet leads a restrained and self - controlled life, so that he could bestow skill and energy on the work. Throughout the poem, the poet intersperses his observations on the sudden pranks and manners of nature. The poet loved doing his work amidst nature. The two tramps, somehow made the poet feel that he had no right to do something for mere pleasure— a thing that could very well be a source of livelihood for another person. Such a person should definitely be given precedence. The poet finally decides that it is best for him to try and unite his avocation and vocation.
The exposition of thought - content throughout the story is developed as follows:
The first stanza satisfies the three unities of time, place and action and sets the tone and atmosphere of the poem. In the second stanza, the poet seizes his opportunity for self - justification. The third, fourth and fifth stanzas mainly record the poet's enthusiastic observation of sudden changes and pranks of the New England climate. Frost here deviates from the main narrative and indulges in a whole - hearted description of personal likings— he describes a length, ‘mud time’, “when most I loved my task”. This description of nature, shows among other things, how April in New England is precariously poised between cold and warmth winter and Spring. Although Spring freshens flow freely, the “lurking frost” can put a glaze over the water. The season with its union of opposites, appeals to the speaker's desire for richness and roundedness; and now, with the intrusion of strangers, he senses another kind of balance—this one within himself.
This stanza effuses with Chopper's euphoria. The inquiries of the tramps only serve to increase the speaker's love for the task of splitting wood . With the seventh stanza the focal point shifts from the interrupted chopper to lumber - jacks who suddenly make their appearance on the scene. The eighth stanza presents the situation when a man chops wood out of sheer love and when he is envied and disliked by needy lumber - jacks. The ninth stanza fuses the co - ordinates of love and need and reconciles the tension, the solution being psychological as well as economic.
The poem has provoked both commendatory and derogatory critical comments. In the poem, the core consists of the contrast between the altitude of the poet and that of the tramps. The poet wants to achieve the unity of “A Full - time Interest”, (which is incidentally the poem's sub - title) and live a controlled, rounded life and the others want to separate avocation and vocation. They want to filter love from need, extricate play from work. Charles Kaplan, trying to emphasize the good points of the poem, says: “A personal experience has been used to highlight universal truths. The idea that the best work is that which combines need with pleasure has been beautifully conveyed.” Pointing out the universality of the poem, Kaplan goes to say, “What is important is man's need to achieve personal equilibrium which is not static , dead - level of passivity but a dynamic one which arises from the resolution of opposing forces , claims and ideas . In the very act of attempting to maintain this tricky balance are found both fulfilment and delight.
Notwithstanding the general acclaim that the poem has met, Malcolm Cowley is critical of the poem. He feels that the ending of the poem is very unnatural and very different from what it would have been in real life. In the poem the poet shows no sympathy to the tramps. He does not offer any solace or any comfort to the tramps. Moreover, he uses them for generalising on human nature. When Frost should have helped these men, he turns to the reader with a sound but rather sententious sermon on the ethical value of the chopping block. Cowley feels that unconsciously, through the poem, the poet, self - centeredness and the charitable attitude is clearly visible as the bottom in a pool or clear water.
George Nitchie is one of the sanest critics I have ever come across. He is the least vulnerable to prejudice. He can see both merits and demerits at the same time - not swayed by either of the two. Though he has some grudge with Frost for encapsulating the philosophy of the poem in the last stanza of the poem, he tries to find reasons for it and finds its merits. He feels that it deserves attention for various reasons. Firstly, it represents popular Frost as completely as a poem feasibly can. Secondly, it is his most unequivocal statement of a human objective. It is an amalgam of Frost's recurring motifs— a fact that may escape the cursory glance. Lastly, it is not a convincing formula for what Frost actually does in many of his most successful poems. The poet conveys to us that one should do only that work which the doer loves to do and which, simultaneously, satisfies a need. The situation in which love and need, desire and necessity, are one, shows Frost's preference for “self - assigned tasks carried out only at the instant urgency of the worker's own desire.” This preference can be extended into a doctrinaire individualism, a kind of freedom achieved by refusing to concern oneself with things that cannot be subdued to one's own individual will. Moreover, we live in a world of social obligations and conflicting needs, a world where love and need may not coincide, where it is next to impossible to write vocation and avocation.
Like all of Frost's nature - poems this poem has a distinctive accuracy, precision, simplicity and charm of its own. Frost is happy to the core of his heart when he is amidst bright, benevolent nature. But even the most cheerful scenes of nature are darkened by a possible malevolent element. Beneath the apparently beautiful calm, there is turmoil and storm; something hostile and sinister is always lurking. Commenting on this aspect of Frost's poetry, Lynen says: “As the most unexpected times, he gives glimpses of horror. In Two Tramps in Mud Time, he interrupts his genial chat about the April weather to advise:
"Be glad of water, but don't forget
The lurking frost in the earth beneath
That will steal forth after the sun is set
And show on the water its crystal teeth."
These vistas opening upon fearful realities do not in the least negate the beauty … the charm of many of the nature - lyrics results from the vividness with which sweet, delicate things stand out against the somber background. You cannot have the one without the other love of natural beauty and horror and indifference at the remoteness and indifference of the physical world are not opposites, but different aspects of the same views.”
We should take note of the classical austerity, simplicity and clarity elements that pervade the poem, with lines of epigrammatic terseness sprinkled in the poem; times when the poet wants to make a point come home to us.
There can be no fitter conclusion to the poem than the evaluation of the poem done by Regnald L. Cook, which puts the poem in socio - contextual perspective: “It is at once more specific in its personal psychological approach to the problem of living one's life, and more general in its advocacy, like Emerson and Thoreau, of the higher, more conscientious individualism.”
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