Abstract：Robert Frost is one of the most popular America poets in the 20 century. Most of his poetry is based on New England’s rural landscape, which is the main reason why he is regarded as a nature poet. However, this kind of generalization is sort of shallow, for it neglects the width and depth of his poetry on the nature of human life, especially on the family ethics. From the family perspective, this paper aims to discuss the family ethics in Robert Frost’s poetry, including the the relationship between children and parents, wife and husband, as well as between neighbors. The poet presents the absent children and conflicting couple to emphasize the importance of children in a family, the abnormal children in modern industrialization and apathetic parents to call for the love and care for children. Besides, he depicts two type of marital relationships--- couples violating sexual ethic and couples in irreconcilable conflict--- to condemn the disregard of sensibility and calls for loyalty and value on marriage and love. Robert Frost, who is great influenced by Ralph Waldo Emerson of individualism, also concerns to construct the neighbor relations actively.

Key words: Robert Frost; family ethics; children; wife and husband; neighbor

Contents

Abstract

摘要

Introduction-5

1. Ethic Relationships between Children and Parents-6

1.1 The Absent Children and Couples in Conflict-6

1.2 Abnormal Children and Apathetic Parents-8

2. Marital Ethics in Robert Frost's Poetry-11

2.1 Couples Violating Sexual Ethics-11

2.2 Couples in Irreconcilable Conflict-13

3. Neighbor Ethic Relations in Robert Frost's Poetry-16

Conclusion-18

Appendix-19

Bibliography-19

Acknowledgements-20