Character Development in "The Mountain"
Robert Frost Paints the Narrator as a Keen Observer Though His Story
Oct 6, 2009
Previous articles provided an overview of Robert Frost’s “The Mountain” and evaluation of the farmer’s character. The other person in this medium-length, blank verse poem is the narrator. He says nothing about himself; the reader must glean the narrator’s traits from how he tells his story.
Was This the Narrator’s First Visit to the Area?
Some analyses of ”The Mountain” say that this is the narrator’s second time to visit the area. But is that correct? The poem begins with the narrator giving observations about the mountain:
The mountain held the town as in a shadow.
I saw so much before I slept there once:
The narrator says he came at night, felt the mountain more than saw it, and rose early the next day to walk to it. On his walk he encounters the farmer, and makes many observations. The poem goes quickly from initial observations to subsequent observations to dialog. No where does the narrator say, "This was my second trip to the area," or "On my first trip to the town next to Lunenburg...."
The use of the word “once” in line 2, and the shifting in line 9 to dialog that seems to be in the present tense is apparently why some readers and reviewers believe this is the narrator’s second visit to the areas. But a careful reading of the poem shows it is all in the past and being recounted by the narrator, apparently after his first visit there.
The Mountain’s Effect on the Narrator
It appears the narrator arrived at night, for his initial description is of night scenes—the stars being cut off in the night sky, and the sheltering from the wind. Even at night he felt the mountain, a presence so strong that he decided to rise early the next day and take a pre-breakfast walk to it.
As he does so, the narrator takes note of many physical features.
- The distance between his lodgings and the mountain was greater than he expected. As he walked he passed fields and more fields and a river, all of which seems to have been unexpected; he thought the mountain was closer than that.
- He notices the effects of spring rains and river flooding, and that this it is not now spring. Frost does this very subtly. He doesn’t shout it, but with the simple “what it [i.e. the river] had done in spring” lets us know we are some amount of time past spring.
- His walk is probably longer than he planned on for the early morning hours. He passed fields, a river, and more fields. He describes a fairly good sized flood plain. This is not a small mountain brook he crossed. He “swung round the mountain,” implying a good distance to his walk.
The Narrator’s Focus Remains on the Mountain
Once the farmer and the narrator get to talking, both men keep the conversation about the mountain. The growth of the town is limited by the mountain. Hence the number of voters is limited by the mountain. Adventure is defined by it. The economy is carried out either on the mountain sides or in a narrow band around it. All other avenues of human discourse become subservient to it. The discussion does not prevent the narrator from continuing to notice features he hadn’t before.
Pasture ran up the side a little way,
And then there was a wall of trees with trunks;
After that only tops of trees, and cliffs
Imperfectly concealed among the leaves.
A dry ravine emerged from under the boughs
Into the pasture.
He also says how he could see “great granite terraces” beyond the thin tree cover. He notes that these terraces appear suitable for climbing. Strange words from a man who says climbing it would be for another day. He even notices—or assumes the presence—of ferns on the terraces. Since the terraces should be too far away to see enough detail to recognize fern plants, perhaps the narrator has some experience with climbing mountains of this type, and knows ferns will be growing there.
Frost’s dialog and narration bring out many points about the narrator’s character. They don’t shout at the reader, but rather invite a close reading to draw in all the details that could easily be overlooked. The full poem, only 109 lines long, is well worth reading and studying.
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