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Allan Yu
Dr. Justin Jones
ENGL 2220.003
14 April 2015
Supernatural Comparison
In the poem Ghost House, Frost portrays the afterlife as peaceful and bittersweet by
juxtaposing the traditional negative aspects of death with the beauty of nature and life. Frost uses
this portrayal to emphasize the idea that, though the body decays in death, love survives.
In many cultures, nature and the supernatural are intertwined and are synonymous with
the feelings of the dead, so the positive connotations of the rebirth of nature, in contrast to the
dreary house, depict the narrators peaceful acceptance of the afterlife. The negative connotations
of the dreary house, in contrast with the thriving greenery, depict the narrators peaceful
acceptance of the afterlife. The title of the poem, Ghost House, creates a sense of emptiness
and death, while also developing a tone of melancholy content. Moreover, Frost continues to
expand on this tone of the house throughout this poem by using diction such as lonely,
forgotten, sad, aching, and disused. At first glance, it may appear that Frost intends to
characterize the house as dark and gloomy, but the narrator is actually somewhat at peace with
his death, as shown by how nature has prospered with his own disappearance. The ruined fences
are now shielded by the grape vines. The house is now being taken over by the woods which
also are coming back to the mowing fields. The cellar, usually a dark place, is now filled with
purple-stemmed wild raspberries and daylight. Since death is archetypally seen as the defeat
of light (life) by darkness (death), the cellar being filled with sunlight goes against the usual
negative depictions of death and thus conveys a more peaceful attitude towards death instead.

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The most telling line to suggest the narrators contentment with his death is his mention that the
footpath down to the well is healed; instead of using the word overgrown, the narrator uses a
more positive word to stress natures benevolence. Greiner contradicts this notion and instead
interprets the supernatural as a symbol for the [narrators] need for a haven (Greiner 95).
Greiner sees the afterlife not as a peaceful place, but one from which the narrator must escape
from because of the negative imagery. However, Greiner fails to consider the positive prospering
of nature which contrasts this negative tone, balancing the imagery to create a more tranquil
outlook on the afterlife.
Despite the positive natural imagery, Frost still acknowledges the afterlifes negatives to
maintain the bitter-sweetness of death and illustrate a peaceful afterlife. The following stanzas
are more negative about the narrator's isolation, portrayed in his strangely aching heart. The
fact that the narrator finds it strange to have a heart that aches implies both that he is dead and
also that it may be aching for different reasons at once: for the loss of his own life and for the life
that has sprung up around him. Even at nighttime the black bats tumble and dart; nature's
constant vivacity is in such sharp contrast with the narrator's own death, the vanished abode
and forgotten road, that it is painful. In addition, nature is personified, such as when the
whippoorwill comes to say his say. Frost specifically uses the image of the whippoorwill, a
bird that is nocturnal. The song of the Whippoorwill is sad as the very fact that the bird sings at a
time when most of the world sleeps speaks to its nature of loneliness. Frost's depiction of this
bird in his poem accurately portrays the feeling of isolation the narrator feels. However, these
negatives are again contrasted with optimistic syntax like before with the regrowth of nature and
the ghost house. Unlike the previous stanzas, there is a barrage of verbs in these lines that
provides an energy which contrasts with the slow and descriptive sentence structure of the first

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stanzas, a hint that the narrator is coming to terms with his situation. This shift in energy gives
the poem a more positive tone and provides an optimistic outlook on the narrators death.
Moreover, even though the narrator tells of a fluttering whippoorwill and bats that tumble and
dart to emphasize his isolation, these images also serve to evoke life and joy into the poem. All
these juxtapositions serve to say that even though the afterlife can have some negative moments
at times, it is not nearly as scary as depicted and is actually quite peaceful.
However, the only reason Frosts depiction of the afterlife is peaceful is because of the
eternal power of love which is able to transcend human existence. At first, the two ghosts scare
the narrator, but by the end of the poem he is sympathetic towards their endless love. Love is
what makes the afterlife bearable for sweet companions as might be had. By describing the
dead lovers as "sweet companions," the narrator portrays how their afterlife is just as happy and
peaceful as their mortal lives, thus conveying why their love in death and life is the same. The
narrator also describes the corpses as "mute...tireless folk" who "share the unlit place with me, a
positive description of the dead bodies, almost as if they were still alive. The narrators
descriptions depict a contentment with his present situation, as if being alive and dead had the
same feeling. Again, life and the afterlife are both as peaceful as one another because love
remains the same throughout both. While the ghosts may haunt the house and fields, they are not
entirely alone in the afterlife, for they have each other. The fact that the ghosts are together and
have a bond that exists past death helps the narrator overcome his fear of the afterlife and realize
something more important than fear; that love exists beyond death. Frost also uses this poem to
comment on society, as in other cultures, the supernatural are depicted as powerful and vengeful
spirits, but Frosts simple portrayal of an abandoned, overgrown house and only the dead for
company makes the supernatural not be as frightful as it would seem. Frosts emphasis on the

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power of love and his mundane depiction of the supernatural shows how he thinks that the lack
of love for one another that humans display is actually scarier than any supernatural being. If
love is this incredible power that can survive even past death, yet humans choose not to use it, it
speaks to mankinds questionable morality. In the end though, bonds of loyalty and trust can
withstand death and despair, as they do with the narrators two ghostly companions.
The concept of spirits and the afterlife is a common motif in many cultural works
throughout the world. The Story of O-tei and Ghost House can be compared through their
similarities and difference in their depictions of the supernatural. They are both similar in that
they both use the supernatural to portray the theme of never ending love, even past death. In
The Story of O-tei, Nagao is set to marry to O-tei but she suddenly falls severely ill. They
make a promise that they will remarry when she reincarnates but he must seek her out without
any help. A couple of years later after she dies, Nagao and O-teis undying love for each other
helps Nagao identify her reincarnated form and O-tei remember her past self temporarily. As you
are never supposed to be aware of past existences, it seems that her love for him transcends this
sacred rule, therefore illustrating the theme of love surviving anything, like reincarnation or
death, just like with the ghost couple in Ghost House. Furthermore, Hearn himself even
concludes the story with the phrase, love being stronger than death (Hearn 10). Hearns theme
of ethics in love overarches [his] literature (Hearn 34), reinforcing the notion of loves ability to
survive anything. However, these stories differ in that the supernatural in The Story of O-Tei is
much more violent than in the Ghost House. The brutality of the spirits in The Story of OTei, is very subtle. In a sense, the spirit of O-Tei murders Nagaos loved ones, including his
parents, wife, and children, as she seeks to be the sole possessor of Nagaos heart and soul. Only
after his flame for the new O-Tei is rekindled, does Nagao finally find happiness. On the other

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hand, Frosts creates peaceful portrayal of ghosts, as they dont really do anything other than sit
around.
Though the poem Ghost House has some negative imagery and diction scattered
throughout, it contrasts with positive connotations of nature and positive diction to create the
sensation of a peaceful afterlife. Furthermore, the idea that love overcomes all is shown by the
continued bond between the two ghosts. This theme can also be seen in other cultures and
literature, such as The Story of O-tei, indicating the overarching message that love can survive
anything. Both stories present the supernatural in such a way that love prevails in any situation.

Works Cited

Barnstone, Tony, and Michelle Mitchell-Foust. Ghost House. Poems Dead

and Undead. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 92-93. Print.

Greiner, Donald J.. Robert Frost. Contemporary Literature 18.1 (1977): 9397.

Hearn, Lafcadio. The Contribution of Hearns Literature to Present Times: Learning from the
Retold Tales of the World of Kwaidan. The Open Mind Of Lafcadio Hearn (2014): 1034.

Hearn, Lafcadio. "The Story of O-Tei." Kwaidan; Stories and Studies of Strange Things.
Vermont: Tuttle, 1971. 29-35. Print.