aRobert Frost and Isolation of the Individual
Frost’s poems deal with man in relation with the universe. Man’s environment as seen by Frost is quite indifferent to man, neither hostile nor benevolent. Man is alone and frail as compared to the vastness of the universe. Such a view of “man on earth confronting the total universe” is inevitably linked with certain themes in Frost’s poetry. One of the most common themes in Frost’s poetry is the man’s isolation from his universe. Three of his famous poems in which different relationships of man and the universe can be seen are “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”, “Acquainted with the Night”, “Desert Places”.
“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” consists of four constructed stanzas. Each line is iambic, with four stressed syllables. Within the four lines of each stanza, the first, second, and fourth lines rhyme. The third line does not, but it sets up the rhymes for the next stanza. For example, in the third stanza, queer, near, and year all rhyme, but lake rhymes with shake, mistake, and flake in the following stanza. Frost stabilizes the poem by the rhyme scheme of AABA/ BBCB/ CCDC/ DDDD, without a single forced rhyme. The last four lines become thematic of the modern era — the rhyme is repetitive and persistent — thus giving the poem its momentum: “The woods are lovely, dark and deep,/But I have promises to keep,/And miles to go before I sleep,/And miles to go before I sleep”. It brings the sense of an impenetrable and indefinite universe. Frost’s human beings are aware of the gap between the ideal and the actual.
“Acquainted with the Night” is written in strict iambic pentameter, with the fourteen lines of a traditional sonnet. In terms of rhyme scheme, Frost uses the “third rhyme” pattern of ABA CDC DAD AA.The structured, methodical flow of the poem connects the stanzas and mirrors the regularity and inescapability of the cycle of sorrow. Iambic pentameters’ steady stressed and unstressed syllables are similar to the footsteps of the speaker as he moves through the silence. The repetition of used in the title, “in rain” in line 2, “I” in the first two stanzas and circular rhyme show the cyclic, slow flow associated with loneliness. The repetition also shows the lack of excitement and joy in the speaker’s life. In this poem man is described as usually alone, detached from his environment, “I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet/When far away an interrupted cry/ But not to call me back or say good-by.”
“Desert Places” consists of only sixteen lines organized into four stanzas, and yet it says more in that space than many a much longer poem ever manages. Each line has ten syllables, but the metre is not, strictly speaking, iambic pentameter nor is it stable; it starts out vaguely trochaic and settles into iambic by the end. The rhyme scheme is AABA CCDC EEFE GGHG, with a caveat that the “odd” word in the third stanza is “snow”, the same as the odd word in the first stanza, so it might be considered EEBE.
Frost in his poems isolates the individual. Poem after poem shows the speaker running off or living the life alone. He who flees goes to confront the vast enigma of space and the night.The theme of man and isolation from his universe expands to some extend in the two poems “Acquainted with the Night” and “Desert Places”.In “Acquainted with the Night”, for instance, Frost meditates on isolation and loneliness portraying a nighttime wanderer who avoids human contact and is acquainted with the night if with no one else.The word “night” may be interpreted in several ways but one convincing interpretation is Nature. Throughout the poem, there are people – seen, heard, or known to be there – but there is no direct contact with Nature. Nature does not govern man’s affairs but proclaims the time. The writer here shows his realization and understanding of his predicament:”One luminary clock against the sky/Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right./I have been one acquainted with the night”.
“Desert Places” has loneliness or isolation as its theme. All animals have taken shelter in their lairs and the poet is oppressed by a feeling of loneliness “And lonely as it is that loneliness/Will be more lonely ere it will be less”.
The poet is not afraid of the empty spaces between the stars, stars on which there is no human race. Why should they scare him with their empty spaces, when the poet has his own “desert places” to scare him? The pathos of this poem is very touching: “I have it in me so much nearer home/To scare myself with my own desert places”.
“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” portrays the realization of loneliness in the woods as seen in the other poems as well. However, in this poem he likes the loneliness; the surroundings around the forest seem to call the poet “The woods are lovely, dark and deep”. He stops by woods on this “darkest evening of the year” to watch them “fill up with snow,” and waits for so long that his “little horse” shakes his harness bells “to ask if there is some mistake.” “The only other sound’s the sweep, Of easy wind and downy flake” where Frost realizes that he is alone during this time and the only thing that is guiding him is “the horse”.However, he must not forget the “promises” he has to keep, of the miles he still must travel.
“Acquainted With The Night” depicts a more dark, deep, lonely tone than does the journey in “Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening,” where the tone is more of fantasy. In “Acquainted With The Night” the poet feels lonely and gets acquainted with the night.This shows that he is comfortable with the night and has been there before. Frost has a deeper and darker meaning with the loneliness and is very detached from the surroundings around him. The only thing that it makes him stop and recollect the thoughts is the distant cry but when Frost realizes that it wasn’t meant for him, he just continues his journey in solitude.
In comparison with this poem, “Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening,” has a different setting of sentiment. This poem has to do with man’s existential loneliness as well, but because of the surroundings around him it brings comfort. Frost says “The woods are lovely, dark and deep,” but he resists their morbid attraction.
In “Desert Places” the loneliness is deeper, it seems that is internal compared to the other two poems where the loneliness had more to do with the surroundings. The isolation that the poet feels seems to be result of the emptiness of the poet’s character which becomes more universal. As seen on “To scare myself with my own desert places” the desert places belong peculiarly to him because they are projections of the self. What is not presented as frightening in “Stopping by Woods” is frightening in this poem. Nothing here makes one feel that the poet finds this snowfall attractive, nothing draws him in, for this snowfall does not present a relaxing oblivion; it presents a concrete blankness. Because it is with blankness that he identifies, it presents no escape, only a reminder of self, a self that is not a welcome retreat. Withdrawal would not be “strategic” and self-preserving. It would be facing a desert.
For all of the differences in the man/universe relationships featured in Frost’s poems, the similarities just as well bring us back to a theme prevalent in much of Frost’s poetry: that the world in which we live is not one configured to provide humanity with an easy path. We do not live in a world where harmony exists between man and his surroundings. While we live, our different habitats present us with complex choices and difficult decisions. Frost suggests through his poetry that we should not pretend the world is transcendental when making choices in life, but that we should see the world as it is: not necessarily an evil, prohibitive place conducting malice toward humanity, but quite frequently a dark and indifferent one.
Works Cited
The Poetry of Robert Frost by Edward Connery Lathem; Robert Frost
Review by: Lewis H. Miller, Jr.
The Massachusetts Review, Vol. 11, No. 3 (Summer, 1970), pp. 602-604
Robert Frost and His Critics
James G. Hepburn
The New England Quarterly, Vol. 35, No. 3 (Sep., 1962), pp. 367-376
Watkins, Floyd C. “Going and Coming Back: Robert Frost’s Religious Poetry.” South Atlantic Quarterly, Autumn (1974): 445-459. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. DedriaBryfonski. Vol. 9. Detroit: Gale Research, 1978. Literature Resource Center. Web. 23 Apr. 2014.
