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Shilpa KarhikThe Lockless Door - Robert Frost
May 29th 2006 23:35
THE LOCKLESS DOOR
by Robert Lee Frost
It went many years,
But at last came a knock,
And I thought of the door
With no lock to lock.
I blew out the light,
I tip-toed the floor,
And raised both hands
In prayer to the door.
But the knock came again
My window was wide;
I climbed on the sill
And descended outside.
Back over the sill
I bade a “Come in”
To whoever the knock
At the door may have been.
So at a knock
I emptied my cage
To hide in the world
And alter with age.
This is a strange little poem with some thematic similarities to The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe. The narrator is a man haunted by a guilty conscience, and afraid of what could be outside the door. One interpretation is that the poem is about "coming out", as it is rumoured that Frost was homosexual, but there are countless possible interpretations.
The interesting thing in this poem is that although the door is unlocked, he chooses to go in and out via the window, rather than opening the door. The unlocked door represents how easy it would be for him to face up to things and overcome his guilty conscience. Instead, he prefers to leave the house, his "cage", and "hide in the world" instead. Whether this means he is simply choosing to hide away somewhere else, or that he has overcome his problems by leaving his cage, is uncertain.
by Robert Lee Frost
It went many years,
But at last came a knock,
And I thought of the door
With no lock to lock.
I blew out the light,
I tip-toed the floor,
And raised both hands
In prayer to the door.
But the knock came again
My window was wide;
I climbed on the sill
And descended outside.
Back over the sill
I bade a “Come in”
To whoever the knock
At the door may have been.
So at a knock
I emptied my cage
To hide in the world
And alter with age.
This is a strange little poem with some thematic similarities to The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe. The narrator is a man haunted by a guilty conscience, and afraid of what could be outside the door. One interpretation is that the poem is about "coming out", as it is rumoured that Frost was homosexual, but there are countless possible interpretations.
The interesting thing in this poem is that although the door is unlocked, he chooses to go in and out via the window, rather than opening the door. The unlocked door represents how easy it would be for him to face up to things and overcome his guilty conscience. Instead, he prefers to leave the house, his "cage", and "hide in the world" instead. Whether this means he is simply choosing to hide away somewhere else, or that he has overcome his problems by leaving his cage, is uncertain.
Robert Lee Frost (1874 - 1963). From Wikipedia
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