Nature As A Common Theme In Frost's Poems

Robert Frost

The Woods are Lovely, Dark and Deep

In the poems I have analyzed that were written by Robert Frost, the common theme is always nature. The theme nature encompasses so many areas but can be narrowed even more specifically to Robert Frost's fascination with woods and trees. There must be a reason why Robert Frost is compelled to use this as an almost constant theme. By looking at his poems with biographical criticism it may be easier to see what motivated his fascination with woods and trees. He uses woods and trees as a medium to express his thoughts about change and other views on life. Robert Frost's imagery of woods and trees is also extraordinary. He portrays the woods as a lovely but dark place.

Robert Frost is known as one of the finest rural New England's 20th century pastoral poets. After studying at Harvard but not receiving a degree, Robert Frost moved to Derry, New Hampshire and worked there as a cobbler, farmer and teacher. In 1915, Robert Frost bought a farm near Franconia, New Hampshire. In 1920 he bought another farm in South Shaftsbury, Vermont. This serves as a reason for his love of nature and his constant use of woods and trees as images in his poems. Because he lived on farms a good portion of his life, Frost's images of woods and trees were probably taken from his everyday life.

The images he provides us of in these poems are extremely vivid and realistic. In "Birches" we get an excellent sense of Robert Frost's image of woods and trees. In the beginning of the poem, Robert Frost describes the setting as a darkly wooded landscape, "When I see birches bend to left and right, Across the straighter darker trees" (Frost 77). He describes with admiration the ice coating on the birch trees and describes the melting of it as that, "You'd think the inner dome of heaven had fallen" (Frost 77). He further describes the bending and malleable quality of the birch tree being due to natural force, not human activity (as would be the case if it was due to the boy swinging them). Robert Frost's imagery of woods and trees is further demonstrated in the lines, "You may see their trunks arching in the woods. Years afterwards, trailing their leaves on the ground" (Frost 77). This poem also infers some of his own youth as it provides the image of a farm boy swinging on birches. In the poem, "Nothing Gold Can Stay" Robert Frost presents a moment in early spring when everything is starting to blossom. Even though woods or trees are not mentioned, Robert Frost provides us with the image of new leaves emerging as yellow or golden blossom from many trees. In this poem, he again portrays the beauty and imagery of it.

In "The Road Not Taken", Frost talked about how he got to a point in his life where "two roads diverged in a yellow wood". He describes his journey in life as a journey into the woods. Because he can not tell for certain which path in the woods leads to what, it is suggested that he believes the woods to be a mysterious place. This is supported in "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening", another one of Frost's most famous poems. In this poem, Robert Frost reveals how he feels about the woods, "The woods are lovely, dark and deep" (Frost 140). He describes it as a world offering perfect quiet and solitude. In this poem he is stuck between this ideal world and a separate world of people and social obligations. The longing tone of the poem implies that the woods/nature is where he really belongs and wants to be.

In "Birches" Robert Frost connects life and woods in the line, "life is too much like a pathless wood" (Frost 77). This is similar to "two roads diverged in a yellow wood" (Frost 71) because it describes paths and opinions. In "Birches", swinging on the birch trees resembles a path away from the tangled, dark wood that surrounds the birch trees. It is away from the "straighter, darker trees, into the freedom of isolation and all considerations" (Frost 77). This can be connected to "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" where his social obligations prevented him for enjoying a world that offered perfect quiet and solitude. At the end of the poem, Frost compares climbing the birch tree to climbing towards heaven. This demonstrates how much trees meant to Frost's spirit. In a literary criticism by Radcliffe Squires where he examined Robert Frost as a naturalist he said that Frost, "has had to observe modern man's awesome effort to escape nature" (Radcliffe 36). The characters that Frost depicted in his poems were examples of his observation.