The theme of gender separation in the poem Home Burial by Robert Frost.

Dealing With Tragedy In ?Home Burial?, by Robert Frost, a husband and wife grieve differently in the face of the shared loss of their son. This difference is made apparent by what they refer to as ?talk? and ?speech?. The title, ?Home Burial?, refers to the son?s burial, but also to the deterioration of the parents? relationship. This deterioration does not come from having different methods of mourning, but from their inability to understand …

…son, she responds that no man can, because men are incapable of speaking of emotions in the face of such tragedy. However men can verbalize their intellect which in this poem is called talk, as when the husband talks of his every day concerns. The father?s ability to ?talk? and the mother?s ability to ?speak? is what causes the schism in their relationship and represents a schism in society between males and females.