West-Running Brook philosophies and meditation 17No matter the elaborate quibbles that have allowed them to be revealed or evaded, the subject of death relentlessly permeates the the spirit of men. Death and its cyclical and definitive nature connects all humans to each other. Robert Frost in “West-Running Brook” and John Donne in “Meditation 17” provoke a universal reexamination of the relationship between life and death. While both authors represent this relationship metaphorically, the first takes a pessimistic approach by denying any correlation between the two, while the second, expressing man's dependence on G-d, optimistically assumes that the crossing will result in the restoration of our natural refuge. Frost uses "West-Running Brook" as a catalyst for an insightful philosophy comparing human existence to a stream flowing west. The west direction of the stream informs the reader of the poem's emphasis on death due to the inherent archetypal associations between death and sunset, which occur in the west. “Running” and a stylistically choppy sentence structure convey the poet's belief in the rapid, fleeting pace of life. The repetition of the phrase "s'enfuit" ("he is running away, he is running away seriously and unfortunately") serves as a constant reminder of this fleeting aspect of life while adding an element of despair and loneliness. “Frostian consciousness normally resides in the space-time continuum and finds it extremely difficult to move back or beyond… while remaining steeped in skepticism (Hart 442).” “All this results in a detachment which, in its cultural context, is a poetry of isolationism (Traschen 63).” Frost's isolation overwhelms the reader who cannot help but sympathize and eventually empathize with his situation. Frost'...... middle of paper ......d Brave Scorn: John Donne. Duke University Press, 1982. 178. Kemp, John C. Robert Frost and New England: The Poet as Regionalist. Princeton University Press, 1979. 273. Lewalski, Barbara. Protestant poetics and religious words of the 17th century. Princeton University Press, 1979. 253-282. Murry, John. “The Devotions of Donne”. The Times Literary Supplement, March 11, 1926. No. 1260. Ogilvie, John. “From the Woods to the Stars: A Model of Imagery in the Poetry of Robert Frost.” » South Atlantic Quarterly. Winter 1959. 64-76. Sherwood, Terry. Filling the Circle: A Study of the Thought of John Donne. University of Toronto Press, 1984. 231.Traschen, Isadore. “Robert Frost: A Few Divisions in a Whole Man.” The Yale Review. Flight. LV, n° 1. Autumn 1965. 57-70. Untermeyer, Louis. “Always Robert Frost.” Saturday literature review. December 22. 1928. 71-74.