Whilst we can clearly see that the narrator speaks fondly of the secluded woods, the narrator’s descriptions of the setting seem to deliver a constant undercurrent of a sense of unease, and the reader can begin to see an opposing view to the beauty of the woods. He speaks of the “darkest eve of the year”, (and this also marries up to the idea of the woods themselves being “dark and deep”) to create an almost threatening image of the dark hiding the unknown.
We see that the source of the narrator’s unease comes from another person or being that is mentioned towards the start of the poem - The first stanza features this unknown character heavily. The grammatical inversion of the first line of the poem (“Whose woods are these I think I know”) allows us to put heavy emphasis upon the last few words ‘I think I know’, suggesting a realisation of the person who appears to own the woods. However, more importantly, he also seems to realise the consequences of trespassing in these woods, yet justifies his actions by saying that “he will not see me stopping here” (reasoned by knowing that “his house is in the village”). This almost makes it sound like his stop in these woods is a guilty pleasure and this would seem to be the root of the narrator’s unease.
Just as the scene is painted by the narrator’s feelings, the narrator’s unease is projected onto the horse, affecting its actions and behaviour, as well as its perceived thought processes. The poem takes a simple AABA structure, to represent the horse’s regular footstep pattern, walking at a steady pace to suggest the narrator’s unease, yet will to go on. Further concern is raised when the horse “gives his harness bells a shake”. The idea of the horse shaking its head could suggest that the horse knows of possible impending danger, or even that the narrator (whose thoughts affect the horse’s behaviour) is succumbing to temptation. The narrator perceives that the horse “must think it queer” that they are stopping mid journey “without a farmhouse near”. This implies that they do not usually, or have not previously stopped whilst on a journey. We are provided with a reason for this, which also ties up the idea of unease and exploration of the beauty of isolation together in the final stanza; “but I have promises to keep” – the use of ‘but’ renders all previous thought processes void, as it becomes apparent that the narrator does not wish to stop within the woods, due to such oaths preventing him from doing so. This reasoning is also backed up by the repetition of the next two lines; “and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep”, referring back to the idea of death, suggesting that he is not willing to stop here, and die, in spite of the appeal of the description he has given of the woods.
‘Desert Places’, another poem by Frost, uses language to portray contemplation of nothingness within a possibly metaphorical landscape created by the narrator’s feelings, whilst questioning the purpose of human life itself. The title “Desert Places” creates an image in the reader’s head of a place devoid of features. The rigid compartmentalized structure of the poem portrays the regularity of life, and how it is meaningless and without purpose.
Once again, the poem uses snow to create a sense of emptiness across the landscape. The narrator links both snow and night together (“Snow falling and night falling fast”) to create a link between the dark nothingness of a black night and the vast emptiness of white snow. The colours used are bleak and bland, and are created in the narrators mind to match his idea of life being empty. The third and fourth lines of the first stanza show his feelings even more plainly. (“…the ground almost covered smooth in snow, but a few weeds and stubble showing last.”) We can see that his feelings are that nothing in his life remains other than that which is dead. This is where ‘Desert Places’ and ‘Stopping By’ differ – in Desert Places, the narrator does not see the beauty in the isolation of the field – he sees it as a metaphor for the purposelessness of life itself.
The narrator begins to personify the landscape around him; “The woods around it have it – it is theirs, all animals smothered in their lairs” - the narrator feels deserted in the same way that the ‘woods’ are forlorn; due to the fact all ‘all animals are smothered in their lairs’. "They cannot scare me with their empty spaces, between stars – on stars where no human race is" is another example of this personification. The poem suggests that the night sky, and the woods are barren and desolate places, (similar to the ‘desert’ of the field), yet it could also refer to the ‘desert’ of his mind - The narrator infers that all the places mentioned (the field, the forest, and the night sky) carry with them a great sense of isolation and loneliness - but he cannot be ‘scared’ by them because his loneliness is greater then any of theirs.
The idea of death reverberates around the poem’s stanzas also. The use of ‘oh’ in the first line (“falling fast, oh, fast”) displays the relentlessness of the speed at which it falls – as if he is viewing this precipitation as a metaphor for the gentle passing of time, leading to his death. “I am too absent-spirited to count; the loneliness includes me unawares” is another example of this depressing view. This line projects the idea that as time has passed, he has become to weary, or ‘absent-spirited’ to continue – the narrator even seems to succumb to the idea that time has closed around him without him realising, and carried him to a point very close to his death. He appears to feel like he is the only being in his world that has not died yet – as with the aforementioned dead weeds, it is almost as if the narrator has mistaken “animals smothered in their lairs” (hibernating) for dead creatures, as if the darkness of the night is closing around everything and everyone – he even feels that the white snow, already very bleak, reaches an even fuller state of nothingness, when he states “A blanker whiteness of benighted snow”, to emphasise the idea that the darkness has consumed the snow itself.
Frost’s use of setting and language impacts very differently on the two poems. In ‘Stopping By’, we see how the narrator seems to relish in the idea of isolation, as if it would serve as a guilty pleasure, and the language used to describe the landscape or setting portrays these feelings with great power, displaying the narrators emotive language towards how the landscape and his feelings coincide. In ‘Desert Places’, we see that the narrator does not feel the same way – he portrays a fear of being lost in the wide open space of nothingness, such as a large field, or the night sky, the setting of which is used to show his fear of isolation and solitude. We can see from both poems that Frost makes great use of language to create an image or setting in our head upon which a series of events can unfold; each new character brings with it a different twist on how the setting will interact with the character and how the characters feelings will edit the scenario. Even though both poems feature heavily the idea of solitude and isolation, the characters in each poem react very differently toward such notions.
Will Lilley
