Robert Frost depicts the life and landscape of New England in his poetry and uses traditional verse forms and metrics. At the same time, Frost is more than a country poet. He develops universal themes through dark thinking, and psychological portraits. His works are filled with uncertainty and irony. In poems “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” "Acquainted with the Night," “Desert Places,” Frost presents solitary lyrical heroes wandering in natural scenery. Their meeting or observation of the nature, another human being or an object arouses understanding of their link to others or isolation from the world. The poems research the theme of solitude using the means of composition and literary devices. Frost contrasts the human intention to be in contact with other people and feeling of loneliness and isolation.
In the very title “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” Robert Frost indicates the time and place of an imaginary monologue of a lyrical hero. The author establishes an inactive development of images and directs the reader's perception toward the experience and feelings. The gerund “stopping” emphasizes not the fact of the action but the lasting stay in a psychological state of the speaker. Frost creates the whole universe from a glimpse on the natural world. He sees universal laws in a concrete, physical part of the nature. There is nothing in the world but this evening, this winter forest, this snow. The hesitant tone of the first two lines draws the impression of aloneness. The speaker makes a choice between the possibilities to stay gazing at the beauty of the frozen winter nature or go on his way home. Ordinary winter landscape seems concrete, but then the mystery of the process of woods filling up with snow (“Stopping by Woods,” 4) appears. The forest seems to be an object with measurement of depth. It is similar to a frozen lake in the second stanza. He stops “between the woods and frozen lake/ The darkest evening of the year” (“Stopping by Woods,” 7-8). There is a mixture of the day and the night in the nature, as well as mixture of awareness and sleep, life and forgetfulness in the psychological condition of the narrator. He seems lonely and isolated in the face of enchanting nature and dark night. “The little horse must think it queer/ To stop without a farmhouse near” (“Stopping by Woods,” 5-6) The place of his stop is distant from other humans and this underlines his isolation and solitude. The three first stanzas have the same semantic pattern that is the movement from the concrete and noticeable, close and clear to mention the boundless and infinite world with mysterious sounds and elements. The epithets “wonderful, dark and deep” (“Stopping by Woods,” 13) in the final stanza equally reveals this image of the enigmatic world. The poet depicts a world with familiar objects, but they change into cryptic depth that attracts and draws the lyrical hero. “But I have promises to keep” (“Stopping by Woods,” 14) An attraction toward the mystery of the woods is opposed to the responsibility of the real world. Though the woods almost win him by its beauty the speaker decides to go on his living. However, the fourth stanza rhyme refutes this guess. It contrasts with the first three stanzas that have the same construction aaba bbcb ccdc. Then in the fourth stanza with the same metrical organization of iambic tetrameter, the poet chooses sequence dddd. Thereby Frost reaches the effect on the level of rhyme of depicting the fusion of two worlds. Creepy winter universe absorbs the real small world. The contrast of these two worlds creates the feeling of solitude and isolation of the lyrical hero.
“Desert Places” by Robert is as a companion of “Acquainted with the Night.” The speaker also makes his way in “snow falling and night falling fast” (“Desert Places,” 1) There are woods in this poem too, but they are sooner white and blank than dark and scary as in “Stopping by Woods.” The repetition of sounds “s,” “f,” and “o” in the first line as well as the second line show that this lyrical hero does not stop; he is “going past” (“Desert Places,” 2) fields he observes. Neither this snowfall attracts him, nor draws him inside. The snowfall stands for blankness “with no expression, nothing to express” (“Desert Places,” 12). “A blanker whiteness of benighted snow” (“Desert Places,” 11) offers no escape, but reminds of own lonely self. Removal from the world of people means not self-preserving but encountering “own desert places” (“Desert Places,” 16). The loneliness is the main theme and the most repeated word in the poem. It keeps the speaker in the state of unawareness and “too absent-spirited to count.” His uncertainty in this line emphasizes his apathy and absent-mindedness towards the setting. The nothingness of the out world means the emptiness he fears in himself. In the third stanza, loneliness is close to snow. The snow covers smoothly all around without boundaries, the loneliness covers with blankness and nothingness the inner world and turns it into a desert without borders. The journey through whiteness created by the snow and the journey through own desert created by loneliness make human being feel vulnerable and isolated. “They cannot scare me!” sounds brave, but ironically Frost weakens the arrogance by means of metrics. The lines 13, 14 and 16 have endings with feminine rhymes, which are the only in the poem. Unstressed eleventh syllable work against self-confidence of the speaker. Physical loneliness without the human race scares the speaker less than the fact that being with himself discovers emptiness inside.
In "Acquainted with the Night," Frost reflects solitude through the sense of homelessness and desolation. The quintessence of loneliness descends upon the speaker and becomes desperate. He feels the full burden of loneliness. Surroundings and imagines are distant. “I have outwalked the furthest city light” ("Acquainted,” 3). The distance from the city with many human beings living in becomes a metaphor for the solitude of the speaker, who creates this distance by moving away from the city. His disconnection establishes the setting of his loneliness or sadness. Frost writes this poem in accurate organization of iambic pentameter. The rhythm of the poem resembles the sound of feet in the rainy night.
I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street,
But not to call me back or say good-bye ("Acquainted,” 7-10)
This voice is disturbing and shows the thoughts of the speaker. The cry makes him stop and hopes someone calls him home, but he realizes it does not concern him.
And further still at an unearthly height,
O luminary clock against the sky
Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right. (“Acquainted,” 11-13)
The imagery description of the moon is also at unearthly distance. The faraway moon is a symbol of the loneliness isolation. It suggests the insignificance of the time that flows on distantly. It has no influence on the speaker and presents living without any obstructions. The homelessness gets the universal character. The acquaintance with the night sounds like painful irony that repeats at the beginning and the end of the poem and turns into a refrain. The darkness of the night associates with the state of darkness and sadness inside the lyrical hero. “Acquainted with the Night” depicts experience of homelessness and loneliness in a solitude, hardness and distance from others.
In his poetry, Robert Frost ponders solitude by creating a contrast between the human intention to be in contact with other people and feeling of loneliness and isolation. In “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” Frost presents the nature that invites to the solitude and apathy of snow, enchants by its beauty and almost wins all responsibilities of the real world. “Desert Places” presents the association between the blankness of covered with snow fields and the blankness, loneliness of exploring the inside world of the lyrical hero. His absent-spirit fears nothingness and emptiness of own lonely self without other human near him. In "Acquainted with the Night," Frost reflects solitude through the sense of homelessness and distance from others. Though the loneliness enchants, the human being feels emptiness and uselessness of own world without “promises to keep” (“Stopping by Woods,” 14) given to others and a cry that calls back (“Acquainted,” 10) home.
Works cited
Frost, Robert. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” Poetry Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 July 2014.
- - - “Acquainted With the Night.” Poetry Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 July 2014.
- - - “Desert Places.” Poemhunter. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 July 2014.
