Excerpt from "Brown's Descent, or the Willy-nilly Slide"

Question

Robert Frost
Brown lived at such a lofty farm
That everyone for miles could see
His lantern when he did his chores
In winter after half-past three.

5And many must have seen him make
His wild descent from there one night,
’Cross lots, ’cross walls, ’cross everything,
Describing rings of lantern light.

Between the house and barn the gale
10Got him by something he had on
And blew him out on the icy crust
That cased the world, and he was gone!

Walls were all buried, trees were few:
He saw no stay unless he stove
15A hole in somewhere with his heel.
But though repeatedly he strove

And stamped and said things to himself,
And sometimes something seemed to yield,
He gained no foothold, but pursued
20 His journey down from field to field.

Sometimes he came with arms outspread
Like wings, revolving in the scene
Upon his longer axis, and
With no small dignity of mien.

25 Faster or slower as he chanced,
Sitting or standing as he chose,
According as he feared to risk
His neck, or thought to spare his clothes,

He never let the lantern drop.
30 And some exclaimed who saw afar
The figures he described with it,
“I wonder what those signals are

Brown makes at such an hour of night!
He’s celebrating something strange.
35 I wonder if he’s sold his farm,
Or been made Master of the Grange.”

He reeled, he lurched, he bobbed, he checked;
He fell and made the lantern rattle
(But saved the light from going out.)
40 So half-way down he fought the battle

Incredulous of his own bad luck.
And then becoming reconciled
To everything, he gave it up
And came down like a coasting child.

45 “Well––I––be––” that was all he said,
As standing in the river road,
He looked back up the slippery slope
(Two miles it was) to his abode.

Excerpt from “Brown’s Descent, or the Willy-nilly Slide” by Robert Frost, from The Poetry of Robert Frost. In the public domain.

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Multiple Choice Question
What is the effect of the comical resolution provided in the last stanza?
A.

It increases the overall satire in the poem.
B.

It allows the rest of the poem to become sarcastic.
C
.

It creates a shift from a serious to a humorous tone.
D
.

It provides a pause for the reader to take in the poem.

Answer 1

C. It creates a shift from a serious to a humorous tone.

The last stanza provides a comical resolution to Brown's chaotic descent, shifting the tone from one of struggle and tension to a lighthearted and humorous conclusion. Brown’s simple acknowledgment of his situation—"Well––I––be––"—highlights the absurdity of his experience, allowing readers to laugh at the folly of it all, thus creating a shift in tone.