Immigration through the Lens of Robert Frost

I know I wrote a few things about immigration that were pretty hard to swallow for most bleeding heart liberals, though balanced enough that I stayed in the good graces of many of my hispanic friends. And even though my good friend Rana is Indian, he's hispanic at heart and would welcome the debate no matter what I said. With that said, I was reading Robert Frost's "Immigrants" yesterday and thought I should be a little more understanding of the nascent Hispanic immigrant situation in the U.S. Frost's poem goes as follows:

No ship of all that under sail or steam
Have gathered people to us more and more
But Pilgrim-manned the Mayflower in a dream
Has been her anxious convoy in to shore.

It's important to look at this poem as (to quote Robert Frost) "a performance in words," as one should for most literature. The reason for this is that one can then analyze the performance and discover its significance.

To begin, this poem is metrical, as is clear with every second syllable accented more than the preceding syllable. The significance of this is that it shows the pattern of Frost's language. However, repetition is not limited to the pattern of stresses in the lines, and therefore, Frost is free to write an infinite amount of syllables and sounds that repeat. However, Frost does not repeat infinitely and in doing so he is able to emphasize certain points.

With all of this said, Frost is then able to manipulate his readers to focus on certain points. For example, in looking at a rather unfamiliar construction of the poem, a reader will discover that Frost is not just talking about the Mayflower and the Pilgrims that sailed the vessel. In essence, Frost is speaking of the whole immigrant experience. "No ship...but...has...," which indicates, in effect, "every ship has." This is important, becuase what Frost is talking about is the continuing arrival of new immigrants and the close connection between the early and the later immigrants.

This is as much of Frost's poem that I want to analyze. I only wanted to use this as preface for my rant on America's current immigration issue and show that today's immigrants are only continuing what has been a long tradition in America, even since the Mayflower. Immigrants have been, for well over 300 years, coming to this country in search of a better life. And, as much as persons whose ancestors came over on the Mayflower have a reputation for being rather huffy and condescending about later arrivals, I want to remind readers, as Frost does, that their ancestors, the Mayflower passengers, were themselves immigrants, seeking better lives in a welcoming land known as the Americas.

I don't renege on my previous post, but I want to reassure everone that I am sympathetic to current immigrants and wish for nothing but responsible legislation that protects them and American citizens.