Today is International Astronomy Day. I want to use this opportunity to promote an upcoming program at the Conway Public Library.
On Thursday, May 22, 2025 from 6-7 pm the Pontine Theatre will present "Sojourner Stories" which uses their unique storytelling techniques to display original adaptations of two stories by New England authors Robert Frost and Sarah Orne Jewett.
Today's blog focuses on Robert Frost’s poem "The Star Splitter."
Published in 1923, the story explores the conflict between societal expectations and individual passions. A farmer’s reckless pursuit of a telescope leads to the loss of his farm and home. This loss initially evokes ridicule from the townspeople.
However, their subsequent contemplation reveals the importance of forgiveness and understanding. Frost uses the image of a telescope, "a star-splitter," as a symbol of the farmer’s "life long curiosity about our place among the infinities.”
We will cover the second story, Sarah Orne Jewett’s A White Heron, in a future blog.
For more info on the program follow this link here.
So now to Robert Frost’s poem "The Star Splitter." To see the whole poem follow this link here.
Robert Frost's poem starts with,
"A telescope. Someone in every town seems to me owes it to the town to keep one."
We will cover the second story, Sarah Orne Jewett’s A White Heron, in a future blog.
For more info on the program follow this link here.
So now to Robert Frost’s poem "The Star Splitter." To see the whole poem follow this link here.
Robert Frost's poem starts with,
"You know Orion always comes up sideways.
Throwing a leg up over our fence of mountains,
And rising on his hands, he looks in on me"
The narrator feels as if nature in the form of the constellation Orion is watching him and has caught him red handed. The poem continues,
"Busy outdoors by lantern-light with something
I should have done by daylight,"
While not clear at this point what he is doing wrong, we learn later in the poem that he is splitting wood by lantern light and too late in the year after the "ground is frozen," when the constellation Orion is most obvious in the early night sky.
Even the wind criticizes him,
"...a gust flings a handful
Of waste leaves at my smoky lantern chimney
To make fun of my way of doing things,"
In the poem, you can see contrasting meanings of the term "split."
Throwing a leg up over our fence of mountains,
And rising on his hands, he looks in on me"
The narrator feels as if nature in the form of the constellation Orion is watching him and has caught him red handed. The poem continues,
"Busy outdoors by lantern-light with something
I should have done by daylight,"
While not clear at this point what he is doing wrong, we learn later in the poem that he is splitting wood by lantern light and too late in the year after the "ground is frozen," when the constellation Orion is most obvious in the early night sky.
Even the wind criticizes him,
"...a gust flings a handful
Of waste leaves at my smoky lantern chimney
To make fun of my way of doing things,"
In the poem, you can see contrasting meanings of the term "split."
First we have the image of the narrator splitting wood, a very practical, earthly seasonal thing to do, critical to surviving during the time period through the winter and to basic daily life as most meals then were cooked with a woodstove.
We learn that the title of the poem refers to a telescope christened the Star-Splitter. The narrator explains the telescope was named that ...
"Because it didn't do a thing but split
A star in two or three the way you split
A globule of quicksilver in your hand
With one stroke of your finger in the middle.
It's a star-splitter if there ever was one,
And ought to do some good if splitting stars
'Sa thing to be compared with splitting wood."
Quicksilver is also known as mercury liquid at room temperature
So this use of "split" is cosmic, unearthly, with no real practical application to survival.
The contrast between the earthly and the cosmic universe is also seen in how he acquired his telescope.
"Because it didn't do a thing but split
A star in two or three the way you split
A globule of quicksilver in your hand
With one stroke of your finger in the middle.
It's a star-splitter if there ever was one,
And ought to do some good if splitting stars
'Sa thing to be compared with splitting wood."
Quicksilver is also known as mercury liquid at room temperature
So this use of "split" is cosmic, unearthly, with no real practical application to survival.
The contrast between the earthly and the cosmic universe is also seen in how he acquired his telescope.
This pr photo from the Pontine Theatre shows how they use their "toy theatre" to illustrate the part of the poem in which we discover that after failing at farming,
"He burned his house down for the fire insurance
And spent the proceeds on a telescope
To satisfy a lifelong curiosity
About our place among the infinities."
In a later stanza it is revealed that,
"Trying to sell his farm and then not selling,
He burned his house down for the fire insurance
And bought the telescope with what it came to."
"He burned his house down for the fire insurance
And spent the proceeds on a telescope
To satisfy a lifelong curiosity
About our place among the infinities."
In a later stanza it is revealed that,
"Trying to sell his farm and then not selling,
He burned his house down for the fire insurance
And bought the telescope with what it came to."
But still he had to work to live so,
"Out of a house and so out of a farm
At one stroke (of a match), Brad had to turn
To earn a living on the Concord railroad,"
"As under-ticket-agent at a station
Where his job, when he wasn't selling tickets,
Was setting out up track and down, not plants
As on a farm, but planets, evening stars
That varied in their hue from red to green."
Later in the poem, the narrator declares.
"Out of a house and so out of a farm
At one stroke (of a match), Brad had to turn
To earn a living on the Concord railroad,"
"As under-ticket-agent at a station
Where his job, when he wasn't selling tickets,
Was setting out up track and down, not plants
As on a farm, but planets, evening stars
That varied in their hue from red to green."
Later in the poem, the narrator declares.
"A telescope. Someone in every town seems to me owes it to the town to keep one."
Thanks in large part to this gentleman from South Tamworth NH, we do have one for you to check out from the Conway Public Library. You can find it listed in our online catalog here. We also have star charts and numerous books on astronomy to share.
The poem concludes with these thoughts,
"We've looked and looked, but after all where are we?
Do we know any better where we are,
And how it stands between the night tonight
And a man with a smoky lantern chimney?
How different from the way it ever stood?
The poem concludes with these thoughts,
"We've looked and looked, but after all where are we?
Do we know any better where we are,
And how it stands between the night tonight
And a man with a smoky lantern chimney?
How different from the way it ever stood?
We hope to see you at the library soon and that you attend the Pontine Theatre program.
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