About a Robert Frost poem, and the darker meaning of ‘moving on’

My column on Friday played off of a politician’s public expression of a desire to “move on” from a series of financial difficulties and misleading public statements to continue his career in office. I speak of Nick Mosby, the president of the Baltimore City Council. He’s seeking re-election despite personal problems that raise serious questions about his honesty and competence. Of course, he’s eager to “move on.” As I said in the column: “Moving on” is a generally good idea, but not in all circumstances. The person who says, “Let’s move on,” before there’s been a full accounting of damage, wants to run right past the wreckage. “Moving on,” in that sense, carries an element of denial with it.

In my winter readings of the works of Robert Frost, I came across Home Burial, a poem that reads like a short story about a couple that lost a child. The wife is in a state of prolonged grief while the husband has “moved on” to his “everyday concerns,” and this foments resentment and anger, and most likely brings about the collapse of their marriage. It’s another remarkable Frost poem, but from the dark forest of human experience.

Here is a link to Home Burial on the Poetry Foundation website.