Loneliness is something everyone fears and, whether they like it or not, everyone feels lonesome at least once in his/her lifetime. Deep in the heart the readers are still desperately lonely and, probably, nothing can be done. It is exactly what Robert Frost wanted to say in his famous poem “Desert Places”. Robert Frost’s “Desert Places” shows the interrelationship of individuality and the need to avoid conformity in society today.
The title of the poem speaks for itself, “Desert Places” is a moral and spiritual wildernesses, where the reader has lost his way. This poem uses imagery, word choice, and symbolism, to explain how depression can make one feel that their life is nothing valuable. He states that the depression felt, for a person that could be the author or someone else is realized when looking at the environment and nature. Frost uses the words, “lonely”, “loneliness”, and, “nothing” throughout the poem to communicate his message. By using the words that describe our feelings, they impact how we feel. If Frost were to use more positive words about happiness and fulfillment the reader might have a more positive interaction with the poem. Not all things to do with winter and snow are depressing and induce loneliness. But, psychological in nature, the poem shows a well-reasoned and realistic fear everyone experiences at some point in their life. A fear to be isolated, rejected, lost in the world and extremely lonely. However, the loneliness that Frost fears is not physical. It is the void deep in the speaker’s heart that makes them miserable, sorrowful, and depressed. It is the fear of the unknown, the fear of the doubtfulness that the reader has never felt before. The relationship between man and nature and the feelings that come from it are a creation of the speaker’s own imagination and only the reader can feel what they think. For Albert J. Von Frank, “Desert Places” emphasizes that “The analogy which exists between man and nature was not, for Frost, established by God, but is continually being created by man’s own imagination: each time one draws an analogy between man and nature, one does so by an act of the will, not in accordance with the scheme of the universe but in defiance of its essential schemelessness…”. This is saying that the relationship between man and nature and the emotions that follow it are not just because we are human and our surrounded by nature because “God” made it so. But rather we associate it with our own meanings and experiences or our fate. In correlation with how the image and symbolism of snow shows our scheme or plan from the universe unfolding.The setting of the poem is the first identifying implement, the desert place is “almost covered smooth in …show more content…
“They cannot scare me…” Frost says. It contrasts greatly to the overall downhearted tone of the poem. The speaker is not frightened anymore because he found himself/herself and those flickers of hope, which they had lost. Moreover, the speaker explains that empty spaces are not what really frightened him/her. It is the inner void that is terrifying. The reader realizes the conformity and the void that will follow with doing so. They will never fully encompass their meaning of life, they would have just skimmed by like any other tree in the woods. But the reader realizes there is more of a possibility to be alone surrounded by everyone then there is to be alone as an individual. There is one more symbol, the symbol of the stars. They represent the elusive dreams and goals we are striving for. The speaker says that very often the goals of society are far from being realistic and easily achievable. They only suck the spirit out of individuals. That is why the speaker would rather make his personal decisions than be at society’s beck and call. He/she has his/her own path and the choice to explore it by himself/herself is the only mark of his individuality. And the ability to posses the tool to shape their own path and scheme the universe has set out for them, is more promising then the conformity to being the same and accepting life as it is. The speaker controls their life, and the meaning behind
The title of the poem speaks for itself, “Desert Places” is a moral and spiritual wildernesses, where the reader has lost his way. This poem uses imagery, word choice, and symbolism, to explain how depression can make one feel that their life is nothing valuable. He states that the depression felt, for a person that could be the author or someone else is realized when looking at the environment and nature. Frost uses the words, “lonely”, “loneliness”, and, “nothing” throughout the poem to communicate his message. By using the words that describe our feelings, they impact how we feel. If Frost were to use more positive words about happiness and fulfillment the reader might have a more positive interaction with the poem. Not all things to do with winter and snow are depressing and induce loneliness. But, psychological in nature, the poem shows a well-reasoned and realistic fear everyone experiences at some point in their life. A fear to be isolated, rejected, lost in the world and extremely lonely. However, the loneliness that Frost fears is not physical. It is the void deep in the speaker’s heart that makes them miserable, sorrowful, and depressed. It is the fear of the unknown, the fear of the doubtfulness that the reader has never felt before. The relationship between man and nature and the feelings that come from it are a creation of the speaker’s own imagination and only the reader can feel what they think. For Albert J. Von Frank, “Desert Places” emphasizes that “The analogy which exists between man and nature was not, for Frost, established by God, but is continually being created by man’s own imagination: each time one draws an analogy between man and nature, one does so by an act of the will, not in accordance with the scheme of the universe but in defiance of its essential schemelessness…”. This is saying that the relationship between man and nature and the emotions that follow it are not just because we are human and our surrounded by nature because “God” made it so. But rather we associate it with our own meanings and experiences or our fate. In correlation with how the image and symbolism of snow shows our scheme or plan from the universe unfolding.The setting of the poem is the first identifying implement, the desert place is “almost covered smooth in …show more content…
“They cannot scare me…” Frost says. It contrasts greatly to the overall downhearted tone of the poem. The speaker is not frightened anymore because he found himself/herself and those flickers of hope, which they had lost. Moreover, the speaker explains that empty spaces are not what really frightened him/her. It is the inner void that is terrifying. The reader realizes the conformity and the void that will follow with doing so. They will never fully encompass their meaning of life, they would have just skimmed by like any other tree in the woods. But the reader realizes there is more of a possibility to be alone surrounded by everyone then there is to be alone as an individual. There is one more symbol, the symbol of the stars. They represent the elusive dreams and goals we are striving for. The speaker says that very often the goals of society are far from being realistic and easily achievable. They only suck the spirit out of individuals. That is why the speaker would rather make his personal decisions than be at society’s beck and call. He/she has his/her own path and the choice to explore it by himself/herself is the only mark of his individuality. And the ability to posses the tool to shape their own path and scheme the universe has set out for them, is more promising then the conformity to being the same and accepting life as it is. The speaker controls their life, and the meaning behind