So without further ado:
Departmental - by Robert Frost
An ant on the tablecloth
Ran into a dormant moth
Of many times his size.
He showed not the least surprise.
His business wasn't with such.
He gave it scarcely a touch,
And was off on his duty run.
Yet if he encountered one
Of the hive's enquiry squad
Whose work is to find out God
And the nature of time and space,
He would put him onto the case.
Ants are a curious race;
One crossing with hurried tread
The body of one of their dead
Isn't given a moment's arrest-
Seems not even impressed.
But he no doubt reports to any
With whom he crosses antennae,
And they no doubt report
To the higher-up at court.
Then word goes forth in Formic:
'Death's come to Jerry McCormic,
Our selfless forager Jerry.
Will the special Janizary
Whose office it is to bury
The dead of the commissary
Go bring him home to his people.
Lay him in state on a sepal.
Wrap him for shroud in a petal.
Embalm him with ichor of nettle.
This is the word of your Queen.'
And presently on the scene
Appears a solemn mortician;
And taking formal position,
With feelers calmly atwiddle,
Seizes the dead by the middle,
And heaving him high in air,
Carries him out of there.
No one stands round to stare.
It is nobody else's affair
It couldn't be called ungentle
But how thoroughly departmental
I've always loved Robert Frost ever since my mother bought a book that had "Stopping by the Woods on A Snowy Evening" in it. She would read it over and over again until it was something we would sing memorized around the house. This poem like "Stopping by the Woods" has a similar sing-song rhyming scheme with its rhyming couplet pairs and vivid imagery making it really memorable. I memorized this one in High School and it's been one of my favorites ever since.
So I think some of the magic is this poem is how it takes very direct language (we're not getting weighed down with a bunch of ambiguous metaphors or a cacophony of images). I enjoy that we get to really delve into this one very specific aspect of what Frost imagines ant life to be, with the different specifics on what they do with their dead. I like that this poem can be enjoyed at the simplistic and direct level of just appreciating the beauty of this one specific image (the ants going around tending to their dead ") but can also go on to be examined and appreciated once we go beyond and look at the larger metaphor between these ants and human beings, and the role of ritual and duty.
I think this poem's meaning is pretty difficult to sum up into one coherent subject or theme. (I'm not sure if that's a weakness or a strength in this poem's case, but I'd be curious as to what others think).
For me this poem's first theme is expressed by the simplicity of the subject matter (ants) which becomes more and more complex throughout the duration of the poem. In this I think it's fair to say that Frost is saying "there's more than meets the eye".
The next theme I'm seeing is the one at the end of the poem in the last two lines
"It couldn't be called ungentle / but how thoroughly departmental" I read this as meaning that sometimes doing a ritual or tradition over and over again might make it lose some of its meaning. I think it might mean that sometimes we live life on auto-pilot and become immune or ignorant to other's pain because we're so caught up in our "tasks" that we forget how to show empathy to others. We might go through with any routine or ritual and get lost in the action, forgetting the real meaning or intention behind it.
I'm curious what your thoughts are behind this poem, here are some discussion questions you can use if you want, but honestly just feel free to share your thoughts whether you've heard the poem before or just skimmed through it for the first time.
Optional Discussion Questions:
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Tagging people who may be interested in the discussion:
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