Binary Opposition in Robert Frost’s Poetry A Structuralist Reading Strategy

The emergence of literary structuralism during the second half of the twentieth century was so influential, as far as literary studies are concerned. It leads to the development of various analytical, systematic approaches; the most important of these approaches is the thematic binary opposition that can be seen as a system of differences between opposing ideas that feed each other in a cultural framework. Binary opposition is concerned with the way that meaning is interpreted. In this study, the thematic binary opposition is used to explain why some of the themes of Robert Frost (1874-1963) are described as being dualistic. To do so, the study discusses two poems related to two different periods and volumes. These poems are “Mending Wall,” and “Desert Places.” Each one has its own theme that represents an opposite to the theme of the other poem. The juxtaposition of these two antonymous themes might be helpful in explaining the contradictions in the literary life of the poet.