A Question With No Answer

Love and a Question

    "A STRANGER came to the door at eve,
    And he spoke the bridegroom fair.
    He bore a green-white stick in his hand,
    And, for all burden, care.
    He asked with the eyes more than the lips
    For a shelter for the night,
    And he turned and looked at the road afar
    Without a window light.
    The bridegroom came forth into the porch
    With, 'Let us look at the sky,
    And question what of the night to be,
    Stranger, you and I.'
    The woodbine leaves littered the yard,
    The woodbine berries were blue,
    Autumn, yes, winter was in the wind;
    'Stranger, I wish I knew.'
    Within, the bride in the dusk alone
    Bent over the open fire,
    Her face rose-red with the glowing coal
    And the thought of the heart's desire.
    The bridegroom looked at the weary road,
    Yet saw but her within,
    And wished her heart in a case of gold
    And pinned with a silver pin.
    The bridegroom thought it little to give
    A dole of bread, a purse,
    A heartfelt prayer for the poor of God,
    Or for the rich a curse;
    But whether or not a man was asked
    To mar the love of two
    By harboring woe in the bridal house,
    The bridegroom wished he knew."

-Robert Frost

After reading the poems from "A Boy's Will" I chose "Love and a Question" because it was of

immediate interest to me. "Love and a Question" is a ballad, which tells the story of a lonely man who 

just needs a place to stay for the night. I believe the poem represents conflict in which the bridegroom,

newly wed,must choose whether he should let the man in, with chances of upsetting his new wife and 

potentially ruining their first night together, or close the door on the man with no place to go. The poem

ends with no answer of whether or not he allowed the stranger to come in, which ultimately leaves that 

answer up to the reader to decide at their own discrepancy.