Neither Out Far nor in Deep
Neither Out Far nor in Deep - fact Summary
Published in 1936 Collection
Robert Frost's "Neither Out Far Nor In Deep" was published in the 1936 collection A Further Range. The short lyric pictures people on the shore who constantly stare at the sea as ships and gulls move before them. Frost contrasts the shifting surface of water with the steadiness of human attention, ending on the paradox that observers "cannot look out far" or "look in deep" yet continue their vigil. Knowing its publication situates the poem within Frost's later work, where concise moral observations often mask ambiguous, larger meanings.
Read Complete AnalysesThe people along the sand All turn and look one way. They turn their back on the land. They look at the sea all day. As long as it takes to pass A ship keeps raising its hull; The wetter ground like glass Reflects a standing gull The land may vary more; But wherever the truth may be- The water comes ashore, And the people look at the sea. They cannot look out far. They cannot look in deep. But when was that ever a bar To any watch they keep?
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