Robert Frost takes our imaginations to a journey through wintertime with his two
poems 'Desert Places' and 'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening'. Frost
comes from a New England background and these two poems reflect the beautiful
scenery that is present in that part of the country. Even though these poems both
have winter settings they contain very different tones. One has a feeling of
depressing loneliness and the other a feeling of welcome solitude. They show
how the same setting can have totally different impacts on a person depending on
their mindset at the time. These poems are both made up of simple stanzas and
diction but they are not simple poems.
In the poem 'Desert Places' the speaker is a man who is traveling through
the countryside on a beautiful winter eventing. He is completely surrounded with
feelings of loneliness. The speaker views a snow covered field as a deserted
POETRY SOCIETY POSTCARD
Robert Frost, American poet
English: Handwritten version of 'Happiness makes u...place. 'A blanker whiteness of benighted snow/ With no expression, nothing to
express'. Whiteness and blankness are two key ideas in this poem. The white
sybolizes open and empty spaces. The snow is a white blanket that covers up
everything living. The blankness sybolizes the emptyness that the speaker feels.
To him there is nothing else around except for the unfeeling snow and his lonely
thoughts.
The speaker in this poem is jealous of the woods. 'The woods around it
have it - it is theirs.' The woods symbolizes people and society. They have
something that belongs to them, something to feel a part of. The woods has its
place in nature and it is also a part of a bigger picture. The speaker is so alone
inside that he feels that he is not a part of anything. Nature has...