Robert Frost’s “Departmental”
The speaker of Frost’s oft-anthologized “Departmental” observes an ant on his picnic table and imagines a dramatic, little scenario of an ant funeral. The use of personification and the pathetic fallacy mixes a colorful drama suffused with human arrogance.
Introduction with Text of “Departmental”
In Robert Frost’s “Departmental,” the speaker muses and speculates about the thoroughly compartmentalized lives of the busy ants. He then creates a fascinating little drama, featuring the machinations of ants going through a funeral process.
The speaker speculates about the thought processes of the ant world. He seems to pass judgment on the lowly little fellows by insisting that their behavior represents a thoughtless kind of rote response.
By failing to account for the influence of instinct on species below the evolutionary level of homo sapiens, the speaker reveals a supercilious attitude that injects a kind of bitterness into the narrative.
While the speaker engages heavily in the pathetic fallacy, he does so with such aplomb that readers may come away from the piece without even noticing the sleight-of-hand that has been dealt them.
The interweaving of personification, comedy, and human arrogance give the piece a dramatic flare that entertains while at the same time gives a glimpse of ant behavior that would be so easily overlooked, if not looked at by one who has special powers of observation—as most poets do possess.
Departmental
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.
Robert Frost reads “Departmental”
Commentary on “Departmental”
In this widely anthologized Frost poem the speaker observes an ant on his picnic table and concocts a dramatic, little scenario of an ant funeral. He seems to amuse himself with the rigidity of his own ideas about the functioning of nature.
The literary device known as personification is employed by subtle means in this piece. Human judgmental factors also enter into mix, making the poem a complex of entertainment along with a smattering of attention to scientific detail.
First Movement: An Ant’s Duty
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.
The speaker observes an ant walking across a tablecloth; as he ambles forth, the ant happens upon a dead moth that is much larger than the ant. The ant is unperturbed by the dead moth, hardly even takes notice of it.
The speaker speculates that the ant was not surprised seeing the large moth and because the ant had business elsewhere, he hardly gave the creature a second thought. The ant, according the speaker’s musings, “was off on his duty run.”
Second Movement: Imagination Engaged
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.
The speaker now thoroughly engages his imagination and concocts a whole scenario in which the ant happens upon a fellow ant lying dead. Again, as with the dead moth, the ant would not be perturbed; he would “seem[ ] not even impressed.”
The speaker again seems to desire to find some human element in ants, and that notion causes him to look down his nose at the little creatures. He makes certain assertions based solely on the fact that he is an evolved homo sapiens, many levels above the little guys he is observing.
Third Movement: His Own Kind
But he no doubt reports to any
With whom he crosses antennae,
And they no doubt report
To the higher-up at court.
However, with those of his own kind, a series of events will take place and without any doubt there will be a traditional set of events that must occur. The speaker is heavily invested at this point into anthropomorphizing these tiny bugs.
The speaker continues speculate about things he could not possibly know. But readers also must keep in mind that the little drama is entertainment not enlightenment. While the speaker may be revealing facts of details, he cannot be revealing any important truths about nature or nature’s Creator.
Fourth Movement: Ant Language
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.’
The Latin word for ant is “formica”; thus the speaker cleverly claims that in the ant language of “Formic,” the death announcement is heralded: Jerry McCormic has died, he was a “selfless forager.”
Then orders are sent to the “special Janizary” to come retrieve the body, prepare it, “lay him in state on a sepal,” and bury it properly, according to ant procedure. This must be done because these orders come from “your Queen.” The colorful drama allows the speaker assume communications that are obviously relayed simply through instinct baked into formica behavior.
Fifth Movement: The Ant Drama Plays On
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
The speaker’s imagination continues to develop the little ant drama. A “solemn mortician” appears and with a comic gesture takes up the body, lifts it high, and calmly bears it away from the scene.
The speaker reports that no one comes to mourn the victim or even show some curiosity, even though the speaker had earlier reports that “ants are a curious race.” The curiosity seems to be the lack of curiosity in certain affairs. Of course, no other ants come to gawk, because they all have their own duties to perform, and this burial “is nobody else’s affair.”
The nature of personification allows the creator of such narratives to engage any type of speculation that seems possible at the time. The process of “willing suspension of disbelief” remains a vital part of experiencing this kind of narrative, especially if any enjoyment is to be gleaned from it.
Sixth Movement: Labels That Fit
It couldn’t be called ungentle
But how thoroughly departmental.
The speaker sums up his little speculative drama by asserting that the whole affair could not be considered “ungentle,” even though it might be labeled completely “departmental.”
The speaker appears to be captivated by the whole scene that he himself has concocted for the sake of his own dramatic entertainment. He must wonder in amazement at his commingling art and science in such a leisurely way.
The speaker’s attention to detail and facility with imagery have helped him concoct a fascinating bit of speculation, but his condescending air reflects a supercilious attitude that sours the ultimate effect of the piece.
Frostian Elitism
It would seem that a certain amount of sympathy and compassion for such lowly creatures would have seeped into the narrative of “Departmental”; instead, the speaker just runs with his holier-than-thou position.
The poet Robert Frost admitted to writing a “very tricky poem” with his “The Road Not Taken.” Not only did he write other tricky poems, but he also put on airs at time that belied his reputation as a humble, nature poet with a grandfatherly demeanor; he could also take the stance of an elite looking down his nose at his inferiors.
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