Desert Places And Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening

LIT 115
Poetry Assignment
“Desert Places” @ end of essay for reference
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 isolation. 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 evening. He is completely surrounded with
feelings of loneliness. The speaker views a snow-covered field as a deserted 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 symbolizes open and empty spaces. The snow is a white blanket that covers up everything living. The blankness symbolizes the emptiness 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 symbolize people and society. They have something that belongs to them, something to feel a part of. The woods have 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 a way of bringing all of her parts together to act as one. Even the animals are a part of this winter setting scene. All animals are smothered in their lairs,/ I am too absent-spirited to count. The snow throws its blanket of whiteness over everything and to him it is a feeling of numbness.
The loneliness includes me unawares. The speaker has lost his enthusiasm for life. He can not express his feelings easily because of this feeling of numbness. The speaker is also in denial about feeling alone. He is at a stage where he just does not care about too much and he is feeling a bit paranoid. They cannot scare me with their empty space. He is saying who cares how I feel, I do not need anyone else. I have in me so much nearer home/ To scare myself with my own desert places. The speaker was starting to realize that he had shut himself off to the world. He recognized that this winter place was like his life. He had let depression and loneliness creep into his life and totally take over like the snow had crept up on the plain and silently covered it. If he continues to let these feelings run his life, eventually everything would be snuffed out much like the snow does to nature.
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening is a much happier and more upbeat poem than Desert Places. This poem is about stopping to enjoy life or as the cliche goes, stopping to smell the roses. But I have promises to keep, / and miles to go before I sleep. The speaker in this poem was a very busy man who always had obligations to fulfill and places to go. A feeling of regret is present. The man would like to stay and enjoy this private nature scene longer
but he knows that he has other things to do. Again, Frost gives us a beautiful nature scene but this time we enjoy welcome solitude. The woods are lovely, dark and deep. This poem expresses the joy of nature. The speaker seems concerned about what the rest of society would think about him just stopping in the middle of nowhere for no apparent reason. His horse represents society. My little horse must think it queer / To stop without a farmhouse near. He admits that just stopping does seem odd. He is also somewhat concerned about the man who owns the woods. The man almost feels guilty for looking so lovingly at this other man’s woods. He will not see me stopping here / To watch his woods fill up with snow. I think that the speakers life may be a little better off since he stopped to take a deep breath and enjoy all that
really matters, the simple things. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening is the opposite of Desert Places. The settings were exactly the same; calm, dark winter evenings, but they express totally different feelings. Desert Places is a very depressing poem with a dark tone. The other is very happy and it makes you wish that winter was already here.
These two poems are very different but they are also the same in some ways. They show two extremes of the same emotion. Being alone can be positive or negative it just depends on the state of the mind. Loneliness can be very depressing or it can be a time to collect your thoughts without the pressures of the outside world crashing down. Winter is the perfect season to reflect upon when expressing solitude. Winter can make everything seem dead. It can be a very depressing time of year. Snow covers everything living and the cold seems to chill to the very soul at times. Winter can also be very uplifting. It can wipe the slate clean with its pureness and it can be a time of starting over. Snow’s whiteness can, in a way, blind you with its beauty and make you forget about your troubles. Winter for me is a time of silent reflection. I could sit for hours and gaze at the blowing snow.
Many of Frost’s poems revolve around nature. You can even tell just from the titles or the first line in the poem. For example: “The Tuft of Flowers,” “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” which has a first line of “Nature’s first green is gold.” “After Apple-Picking,” “The Road Not Taken,” which happens to be one of my favorites also. “The Oven Bird,” “Once by the Pacific,” Acquainted with the Night,” and “The Night Light.” All of these poems have to do with nature or refer to nature within them.

Another one of my favorite poems by Robert Frost is “Fire and Ice,” which is a very short yet effective poem.

“Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.

But if I had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.”
This poem is extremely unique in the pattern and metaphor that it holds. It has a very negative view of the end of the world. Frost argues within the poem whether the world will end in fire or ice. He says that if he had to die twice, that ice would suffice because it causes destruction also and is more in the taste of hate. The rhyme pattern in this poem is A-B-A-A-B-C-B-C-B. It only has three different rhyming sounds. The two main ones are “fire-desire” and “ice-suffice.”
Robert Frost creates many nature related poems with different outcomes. Two of the poems that I analyzed pertain to winter. The first, Desert Places is a sad poem about loneliness and lost enthusiasm. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening is a rather uplifting poem about enjoying simple things in life. Frost seems to draw upon his experiences from living in rural New England and converts those experiences into beautiful poetry.
Desert Places
Snow falling and night falling fast, oh, fast
In a field I looked into going past,
And the ground almost covered smooth in snow,
But a few weeds and stubble showing last.

The woods around it have it–it is theirs.

All animals are smothered in their lairs.

I am too absent-spirited to count;
The loneliness includes me unawares.

And lonely as it is that loneliness
Will be more lonely ere it will be less–
A blanker whiteness of benighted snow
With no expression, nothing to express.

They cannot scare me with their empty spaces
Between stars–on stars where no human race is.

I have it in me so much nearer home
To scare myself with my own desert places.

From A Further Range 1936
Poetry Essays