FREE ESSAY ON DARKER SIDE OF ROBERT FROST

DARKER SIDE OF ROBERT FROST

Robert Frost is often referred to as a poet of nature. Words and phrases such as fire and
ice, flowers in bloom, apple orchards and rolling hills, are all important elements of
Frost's work. Remove them and something more than symbols are taken away. These 'benign'
objects provide an alternative way to look at the world and are often used as metaphors
to describe a darker view of nature and humans. In Frost's poetry, the depth is as
important as the surface. The darker aspects of Frost's poetry are often portrayed
through the use of symbolism, vivid imagery, and selective word choice.
Frost's poems appear to be simple on the surface, yet upon further scrutiny the poems
reveal themselves as elusive. Frost utilizes ordinary objects to create a deeper meaning.
For example, the poem Mending Wall, appears to be about the differences between two
neighbors and their ideas on rebuilding a wall. On the other hand, the wall may be
viewed, in a more general sense, as a symbol to represent all the antagonistic or
mistrustful barriers that divide man from man. The gaps I mean / No one has seen them
made or heard them made / But at spring mending-time we find them there (lines 9-11),
illustrates the point that people become separated without even realizing it because we
become so caught up in what is happening in our own lives. The darkness, held within the
afore mentioned quotation, is the feeling of sadness. The fact that we do 
not take notice of one another creates a place that becomes more and more divided by
differences. 
Likewise, the poem Nothing Gold Can Stay seems to represent the change of seasons. But
further analysis reveals that the speaker is also paralleling the cycles of life with the
change in seasons. So dawn goes down to day (7) illustrates that in life as in nature,
golden moments fade away. Then leaf subsides to leaf (5) implies autumn, when the leaves
begin to turn gold and fall to the ground. The color gold represents the end of life,
whereas green represents new life. The poem also illustrates the loss of innocence. As
the seasons change, life progresses and innocence can no longer be sustained. Autumn
represents death. The changes in the color of the leaves are often viewed as beautiful
even though it marks the end of a season. The end to human life creates overwhelming
feelings of anxiety and uncertainty. Death, for some people, is a taboo subject. People
are not overly comfortable discussing death because of the emotions evoked. Yet, Frost
has the ability to create an awareness of the subject by using the beauty of nature as a
filter. 
Frost's darker side is also prevalent through the imagery of many of his poems. For
example, the title of the poem Desert Places, stimulates images of loneliness, feelings
of abandonment, and a general sense of isolation. The word desert is often associated
with harsh living conditions and a place devoid of life. The word 'it', in The woods
around it have it-it is theirs (5), refers to the field and suggests that the field is
just there. The animals are absent too - smothered in their lairs (6). The speaker is too
absent-spirited (7) to matter. Thus, without the care of man and without the 
animals the field is deserted, desolated, and lonely. The closing line To scare myself
with my own desert places (16), examines the manner in which people often fail to get in
contact with aspects of their personalities which are undesirable or difficult to admit.
For example, the constant struggle between one's inner feelings and the accepted social
norms. Desert places also suggests that people have darkness within themselves. The
absence of a meaningful self or lack of self-esteem may create feelings of isolation.
Stopping by Woods on a Snow evening, also illustrates a dark complexity to Frost's works.
The poem captures images of loneliness and indecisiveness by selective word choice. For
instance, woods are sometimes connected with the unknown, darkness and isolation. The
speaker also uses phrases such as, darkest evening and frozen lake to solidify the mood
of aloneness. The speaker is riding into the darkness on an unknown journey, only to find
himself caught between the woods and frozen lake (7). The speaker is caught between old
patterns and new possibilities. The woods represent the unfamiliar while the frozen lake
represents the familiar. The speaker contemplates the decision he must make: The woods
are lovely, dark, and deep, / But I have promises to keep (13-14). The speaker's journey
has come to an end and he decides to return to the life that he has always known. The
speaker is afraid to venture out into the unknown. Feelings of being confined to one's
particular 'role' and way of being evoke emotions such as depression. In general, people
live in fear of change. People are afraid to take a chance even without some guarantee. 
Beneath the apparent simplicity of Frost's writings, lurks a hidden commentary on both
the nature of personality and the social/political state of society. Frost brings light 
to the darker side of humanity in an extremely subtle way. Dark complexities are not
obvious on the surface, however they are hidden throughout his poems in the form of
symbols, imagery, and careful word choice. Frost's poetry acts as a metaphor for life.
Upon first glance things look nice and orderly, but once the surface has been scratched
the darker side becomes more apparent. 
Bibliography:
Frost, Robert. Mending Wall. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Julia
Reidhead. 5th ed. 2 vols. New York: Norton, 1998. 1119.
Frost, Robert. Nothing Gold Can Stay. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 
Ed. Julia Reidhead. 5th ed. 2 vols. New York: Norton, 1998. 1132.
Frost, Robert. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening. The Norton Anthology of American
Literature. Ed. Julia Reidhead. 5th ed. 2 vols. New York: Norton, 1998. 1133.
Frost's Darker Side