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Desert Places
Snow falling and night falling fast, oh, fast
In a field I looked into going past,
And the ground almost covered smooth in snow,
But a few weeds and stubble showing last.
The woods around it have it - it is theirs.
All animals are smothered in their lairs.
I am too absent-spirited to count;
The loneliness includes me unawares.
And lonely as it is, that loneliness
Will be more lonely ere it will be less -
A blanker whiteness of benighted snow
WIth no expression, nothing to express.
They cannot scare me with their empty spaces
Between stars - on stars where no human race is.
I have it in me so much nearer home
To scare myself with my own desert places.
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| Desert Places |
Summary and Analysis
Introduction:
The poem Desert Places from A Further Range is one of Frost's best known. It is pessimistic and has little consolation to offer. Solitude around the province of nature had its dominance in extent of life. In the vast universe lifelessness is the concern of poet.
Summary:
The poem Desert Places is concerned with loneliness. The natural setting - falling snow, night, only a few weeds visible above the snow on the ground, the animals having withdrawn into their lairs emphasizes the feeling of loneliness oppressing the poet. Falling snow and darkening woods suggest the desolation of lifeless stars and interstellar space. The lonely emptiness of the wintry landscape and the infinite universe moves the poet to think of the finite desolation that exists within himself. The empty spaces between the lifeless stars do not scare him. Why should they, when he has his own desert places to scare him!
Critical Analysis:
Snow and star images are persistent in Frost's poetry. Snow is suggestive of desolation, and cold indifference is symbolized by the stars in this poem. These images serve to convey complex stales of reeling - here the loneliness and terror of an individual's 'own desert places'. The style is plain and the expression felicitous, with no obscurities involved.