The poem Desert Places was written by American poet Robert Frost. The poem uses a sullen tone to describe a snowy field. Frost uses the field is a metaphoric device to express his own internal turmoil. He uses repeatedly uses words such as “lonely” and “absent-spirited” and “indifferent” to obviously show that he feels isolated from any kind of happiness. Frost begins the poem by symbolically combing darkness and snow. He describes both “snow” and “night” “falling fast” so that the reader will see that the snow in the field equates to darkness in Frost’s heart. The repetition of “falling fast, oh fast” is used to emphasis the suddenness of the falling snow. Frost does this to express his anxiety about the sudden gloom falling over his life …show more content…
The “woods” represents life and “it” is his happiness. The animals are now “smothered in their lairs” and cannot be seen. This is meant to parallel Frost’s inability to see beauty in his life. The animals are a part of what makes the field beautiful and like the animals in the field Frost is unable to see anything positive. He explains that he is “too absent-spirited to count”, which clearly illustrates how Frost has given up on trying to see the bright side. Frost adds that the “loneliness includes [him] unawares.” This oxymoron adds dramatic effect and reestablishes that the field represents Frost. He did not feel emptiness inside until he compared himself to the …show more content…
He uses the word lonely three times so the reader will certainly know he is alone. The speaker mentions also that he will become even more lonely “ere” or “before” he will becomes less lonely. The field is now described as being a “blanker whiteness of benighted snow.” At this point of the poem, it is assumed that the snow has grown and now covers even those “weeds and stubble.” The field has been striped of it’s geological markings and is now a blank canvas. Without its grasses and hills to give the field identity it becomes nothing. Frost does this because he feels as though he has lost his sense of identity. Benighted literally means to be overtaken by darkness. So by describing the snow as benighted, Frost way of arches back to the idea that snow symbolizes darkness and its suffocation of the land and of himself. In the fourth stanza the speaker uses third person pronouns to personify his fears. However “they” do not scare him with “their” empty spaces. The emptiness of the field or the dark void of space does not scare the speaker because he has more emptiness already in himself. In fact, the speaker is so filled with emptiness and darkness that he scares himself. Frost is saying that his thoughts might actually terrify himself. Frost uses feminine rhyme in a humorous effect by rhyming spaces/race is/places. He is insinuating that his fears are a
Frost’s diction could be described as simplistic. Frost does not use large vocabulary words, but rather uses simpler everyday words that most people word use. By using a simpler vocabulary it allows the one to understand the meaning of the poem more clearly. The language used is a testament to Frost’s style of writing that he is known for. The language used is clear in this poem, such as “And both that morning equally lay / In leaves no step had trodden black. / Oh, I kept the first for another day!” (11-13). This type of diction helps the reader to analyze and interpret the poem more deeply. As the use of everyday language allows the poem to become more relatable and reach a more diverse audience. Diction is an important element of this poem as it adds to the poem’s
Frost uses different stylistic devices throughout this poem. He is very descriptive using things such as imagery and personification to express his intentions in the poem. Frost uses imagery when he describes the setting of the place. He tells his readers the boy is standing outside by describing the visible mountain ranges and sets the time of day by saying that the sun is setting. Frost gives his readers an image of the boy feeling pain by using contradicting words such as "rueful" and "laugh" and by using powerful words such as "outcry". He also describes the blood coming from the boy's hand as life that is spilling. To show how the boy is dying, Frost gives his readers an image of the boy breathing shallowly by saying that he is puffing his lips out with his breath.
This poem is a clear representation of it's theme, maybe the most clear out of all of the poems. The speaker enters the woods, deeper and deeper they go, away from the people on the outside of the woods. He walks the opposite from others, if taken in a literal sense. “Against the trees I go” (Frost, Line 2) implies that he would rather walk away from others, as walking against the trees, instead of walking with them. Just looking at the poem, you see that the speaker is happy walking into the woods alone, and that this is where they come to be alone, away from others. As the poem goes on, it gets later but the speaker does not feel the pressure to leave. They slowly make their tracks in the snow. Snow is a symbol of isolation as well, for example, when snow is fresh. The snow looks so delicate, not to be touched. But, in this poem, no one had touched the snow. The speaker made his tracks in the snow because he was the only one there to make them. No one has come to this spot, and therefore it is isolated, only for him. As the poem
Literally, this is a poem discribing the seasons. Frosts interpertation of the seasons is original in the fact that it is not only autumn that causes him grief, but summer. Spring is portrayed as painfully quick in its retirement; "Her early leaf's a flower,/ But only so an hour.". Most would associate summer as a season brimming with life, perhaps the realization of what was began in spring. As Frost preceives it however, from the moment spring...
Throughout “Acquainted with the Night,” Frost uses descriptive words to help the reader form a picture in their mind. The reader gets a great image in their mind when Frost states, “I have walked out in rain—and back in
Robert Frost had a fascination towards loneliness and isolation and thus expressed these ideas in his poems through metaphors. The majority of the characters in Frost’s poems are isolated in one way or another. In some poems, such as “Acquainted with the Night” and “Mending Wall,” the speakers are lonely and isolated from their societies. On other occasions, Frost suggests that isolation can be avoided by interaction with other members of society, for example in “The Tuft of Flowers,” where the poem changes from a speaker all alone, to realizing that people are all connected in some way or another. In Robert Frost’s poems “Acquainted with the Night,” “Mending Wall,” and “The Tuft of Flowers,” the themes insinuate the idea of loneliness and isolation.
Robert Frost describes the harsh struggle of life trying to escape the hardships of life through the use of metaphors and similes. Frost firstly focuses on visual appeal, he describes the “loaded with ice” and “turns arching in the woods” to reveal the trees appearance (6). Frost writes about the “sun’s warmth makes them shed crystal shells” to give you that visual of a nice sunny day. He continues by describing the trees to girl “like girls on hands and knees that throw their hair” Frost combines the visual imagery with a simile to describe the trees.
Frost’s sentence structure is long and complicated. Many meanings of his poems are not revealed to the reader through first glance, but only after close introspection of the poem. The true meanings contained in Frost’s poems, are usually lessons on life. Frost uses symbolism of nature and incorporates that symbolism into everyday life situations. The speaker in the poems vary, in the poem “The Pasture”, Frost seems to be directly involved in the poem, where as in the poem “While in the Rose Pogonias”, he is a detached observer, viewing and talking about the world’s beauty. Subsequently, the author transfers that beauty over to the beauty of experiences that are achieved through everyday life.
Robert Frost is one of the most famous and influential poets in our nation's history. His simple style of writing and constant attention to nature make his poems unique. His poems have captivated thousands and have been analyzed time and time again. Many feel that his poems often times represent emptiness, loneliness, and despair. The poem "Desert Places" could certainly fall into these categories. Robert Frost was a very successful poet with a wife and loving family which begs the question, "Why would Robert Frost choose to write this poem at this period in his life?"
The poem is showing how many people are questioning the way Frost conducts himself and his happiness. Everything in Frost’s poem up until the last stanza is dark and depressing. An example of this is, “Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year.” (Frost, Lines 7 and 8). Frost is so consumed in the sadness, that its very dark around him. The last stanza is where Frost’s hopefulness is presented. The happiness is hinted towards, “The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.” (Frost, Lines 13 to 16). He has promised himself to always keep moving forward and focusing on the goodness that life has to offer. Frost knows that he isn’t quite there yet, but he will not give up. He emphasizes his perseverance by reaping himself twice when he says “And miles to go before I sleep,” (Frost, Line 15). He had a break through and knows that he cannot give up. He is taking the little bit of happiness he knows to transform his life completely too where he is happy with every aspect of it. He is taking the hope that he does have and running with it, not looking back at the despair he feels that surrounds
Although this poem also is connected with nature, the theme is more universal in that it could be related to Armageddon, or the end of the world. Even though this theme may seem simple, it is really complex because we do not know how Frost could possibly relate to the events leading to the end of the world. It is an "uncertain" and sometimes controversial topic, and even if everyone was certain it was coming, we do not know exactly how it will occur and when. Therefore, how did Frost envision this event? Is he portraying it in a religious context, a naturalistic one, or both? The last line (14) speaks of God putting out the light, which brings out a religious reference, but the bulk of the poem deals with nature entirely. Physical images of water, clouds, continents, and cliffs present a much more complex setting than the simple setting in "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" or the yellow wood in "The Road Not Taken."
Robert Frost is an amazing poet that many admire today. He is an inspiration to many poets today. His themes and ideas are wonderful and are valued by many. His themes are plentiful however a main one used is the theme of nature. Frost uses nature to express his views as well as to make his poetry interesting and easy to imagine in your mind through the detail he supplies.
Robert Frost’s love of nature is expressed in the setting of his poem "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening." His elaborate description of the woody setting brings vivid images to the reader’s mind. Frost explains the setting so descriptively that the reader feels he is in the woods alsoThe setting is a very important tool Frost uses in writing this poem. The setting is obviously in the woods, but these are not just any old woods. Something caught the speaker’s eyes in these woods making them a special place for the speaker. It seems as if the speaker has associated these woods with an aspect of his "personal paradise". The peacefulness, tranquillity, darkness, and silence are all important parts of this "paradise".
Frost uses nature as a reflection of human experiences; just like humanity it can have seasons and life cycles. He uses different scenes to depict a certain mood for readers to step into the psychological happening of a man. The idea of how seasons change, Frost compares it through the life cycles that humans encounter. Contrary to popular opinion, I believe that nature is not Frost’s central theme in his poetry; it is about the relationship that man has with nature in which can be seen from “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”, “The Road Not Taken”, and “An Old Man’s Winter Night.”
Edward Abbey once stated: “Water, water, water....There is no shortage of water in the desert but exactly the right amount , a perfect ratio of water to rock, water to sand, insuring that wide free open, generous spacing among plants and animals, homes and towns and cities, which makes the arid West so different from any other part of the nation. There is no lack of water here unless you try to establish a city where no city should be.” Through poems such as Birches, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, Mending Wall, Out, Out--, Acquainted with the Night, and The Gift Outright Frost uses an amazing capacity of human intellect to personify the areas of living. Whether it be nature or rural, both are celebrated. Robert Frost uses his poetry to celebrate, compare, and contrast the beauty of nature and rural living.