Robert Frost was one of the few leading poets of the 20th-century and won the Pulitzer Prize four times. Frost was a poet from rural New England, but his poems could be related to any part of the world. After college Robert Frost moved to England and published a few poems while there. “He closely observed rural life and in his poetry endowed it with universal, even metaphysical, meaning, using colloquial language, familiar rhythms, and common symbols to express both its pastoral ideals and its dark complexities” (Britannica Concise Encyclopedia 1). Nature is an everyday detail that people infrequently take time to appreciate and sometimes take it for granted; it’s what makes the world beautiful. In several of Robert Frost’s poems like “The Road Not Taken”, “Fire and Ice”, and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” they reflect nature, he recognizes the beauty and disaster of it.
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In the poem “The Road Not Taken” nature comes into play when Robert Frost introduces to the reader to a traveler that comes to a sudden halt at the site of a crossroad in yellow woods. The traveler of Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” is left to think about which path to travel on. Robert P. Ellis states “On more than one occasion the poet claimed that this poem was about his friend Edward Thomas, a man inclined to indecisiveness out of a strong-and, as Frost thought, amusing-habit of dwelling on the irrevocability of decisions”. After cautiously looking at of both routes, the traveler comes to the conclusion that both paths present a more interesting venture ahead. The traveler tells the reader that the woods are yellow which mean it could possibly be autumn. “And looked down one as far as I could/To where it bent in the undergrowth” (lines 4-5), this could mean the wood are thick and the road disappears in the undergrowth. The undergrowth would represent the traveler’s future that is unclear by which road he takes. Of the two means of travel, the traveler states that “the passing there/Had worn them really about the same” (lines 9-10) and “both that morning equally lay/ In leaves no step had trodden black” (11-12). There is a contradiction that one path is less worn than the other. These lines show us that the leaves have just fallen, and they cover which path was more or less traveled the day before. This line points out that there are times when you can’t decide which decision is better. Without a clear solution to the problem, the character is left to think of any future consequences that could occur based on a decision of taken. As a result, the character comes to terms that the final destination is based only by chance and choice, but there are some regrets out the certain rode taken.
Frost’s work shows the general uncertainty of supposing a different result if another road was taken. The title suggests this feeling of doubt, where the road not taken is mentioned with greater standard than the actual course of travel. Missing the chance to “travel both/ And be one traveler” (2-3), one path must function as the chosen way and the other the other way, both with no indication of which is the better to travel. As a result, once the picked road is traveled, the other way holds a lingering reminder of what may have been lost just by chance. After a predictable self-evaluation of the traveler’s life, trying to figure out if he took full advantage of the available opportunities perceived as a frightening challenge for there will always be an ambiguity lingering around the other path. The traveler uneasily comes to terms with reality, and eventually determines the pointlessness on matters of the imagination. So, “with a sigh” (16), the traveler states that he took advantage of the opportunities as they were given to him. Taking the chosen path has “made all the difference” (20). The decision determined the traveler’s overall course in life to the result that the other road could’ve pointed the speaker to go in the complete opposite direction of his destination.
This was the first Robert Frost poem I have ever read. The first time I read it I could easily relate to it. I do believe that this is one poem where anyone that reads it will be able to relate to it. I have been met with numerous decisions in like that are life changing. From which college I wanted to go to, to what major I want to study, and to fall or not to fall to peer pressure. All together, I enjoyed reading this poem. I like how Robert Frost compares a fork in the road to everyday life decisions we make.
In the poem “Fire and Ice” Robert Frost compares two elements of nature fire and ice. “Fire and Ice” is straightforward in its message that emotions become destructive when they are too extreme, destructive enough even to end the world (Explanation of: “Fire and Ice” by Robert Frost). In the first two lines “Some say the world will end in fire/Some say in ice” (Lines1-2) the poem he presents the option to end of the world by fire or ice. He then talks about fire in the next two lines and compares fire to desire “From what I’ve tasted of desire/ I hold with those who favor fire” (3-4). The comparison states that Frost sees desire as something that takes over and brings devastation. In the next stanza Frost then compares ice to hate. This comparison relates to the reader a view of hate as something that causes people to be unyielding, lifeless and cold. Ice also has the tendency to take in things and cause them to crack and break. The final line of the poem asserts that these two vicious forces are evenly great. Fire consumes and destroys quickly, leaving ashes. In The overview Explanation of: “Fire and Ice” by Robert Frost it talk about how two opposites like fire and ice or passion and hatred can easily be linked together. While ice or hatred, destroys much slower. It causes objects to become so lifeless that they crack from the pressure created. Frost imagines that the end of the world could be caused by people becoming too strict, lifeless, and set in their way of life and beliefs that the world breaks apart into pieces.
“”Stopping by Woods” is a much stranger poem than may appear at first. From the opening lines, we know that the story is being told from the speaker’s point of view (“Whose woods these are I think I know”), but we may never bother to consider whom the man is addressing.”(Monte). Robert Frost’s love of nature is expressed through out the poem with the setting. His perfect description of the woods brings clear images to the reader’s head. “The woods are lovely, dark and deep” (line 13) the way Frost describes the wood would make the reader seem like they were there. The feel of Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” is set by “the only other sound’s the sweep / of easy wind and downy flake” (11-12). The first line in the poem talks about the woods. In the poem Frost says that the narrator enjoyed sitting and watching the snow and that he is also a nature lover. In the second stanza Frost refers back to the woods. The depth and darkness of the woods make the woods gloomier. The snow eliminates the limits and boundaries of things and of his own being is, the function here of some secret desire toward destruction. The setting of the poem is in the woods. John T. Ogilvie explains the peace of the woods by stating “The artfulness of “Stopping by Woods” consists in the way the two worlds are established and balanced. The poet is aware that the woods by which he is stopping belong to someone in the village; they are owned by the world of men.” The traveler sees something in the woods that attracts him making the woods a special place. It appears that speaker has connected the woods with his “paradise”. The tranquility, dimness, and silence are what make it “paradise”. The traveler knows that he is not able stay put in this “paradise”, “But I have promises to keep/And miles to go before I sleep” (14-15).The traveler doesn’t want to leave the peaceful woods, but he has made other promises that he must keep. Frost repeats the last two lines “and miles to go before I sleep” (15-16), this could stress the importance of this promise that was made, and to give the traveler a reason to leave. “Further, Frost repeated the last two lines of the poem partially as a matter of form: “What it [the repetend or repeated lines] does is save me from a third line promising another stanza . . . . I considered for a moment four of a kind in the last stanza but that would have made five including the third in the stanza before it. I considered for a moment winding up with a three line stanza. The repetend was the only logical way to end such a poem.”” (Hochman) Nature has its own way of relaxing the mind and body. Frost may have believed the same. Frost’s use of colorful imagery helps other readers appreciate the serenity of nature. “Stopping by Woods” is an excellent poem uses symbolism and setting perfectly.
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I enjoyed this poem and I also like the meaning. This poem is telling you to “stop and smell the roses” and enjoys life. During winter is a time when most people are lone in solitude. Being isolated can be miserable, but it could all so be a time to collect thoughts without any annoyance of the outside world coming down on you. Nature is something that can bring about personal reflection in anyone.
In many of Robert Frost’s poems he tends to reflect on nature, and he recognizes the beauty and disaster of it.Robert Frost is an amazing poet. His ideas and the way he uses nature are perfect and are valued by many. Frost uses nature to put across his views as well as to make his poetry more interesting than it already is. His poems make it easy to imagine the setting in your mind through the detail he provides.
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