Desert+Places

"Desert Places" Robert Frost

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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Biography

=== Robert Frost was born on March 26th, 1874 in San Francisco, California. After his father passed away of tuberculosis, Frost left his home of eleven years and moved with his mother and sister to Massachusetts. After graduating high school, where he met his future love and wife, Elinor, Frost attended Dartmouth University and later attended Harvard University; however, he never earned a formal degree. After leaving school Frost drifted between multiple jobs, all of which he was unhappy with. After publishing his first poem "My Butterfly: an Elegy" in 1894, he then married Elinor on December 19, 1895. Robert and Elinor had their first child in 1896, Elliot, and five more children followed. Unfortunately, two of Frost's children passed away and two more developed mental illnesses. In 1900, Frost moved with his wife and family to a farm in New Hampshire, where the pair experienced more tribulations when they failed at multiple endeavors. These heartaches and trials are reflected in some of Frost's poem through his dark images and somber themes, and his rural lifestyle would also be inspiration for the settings in some of his poems. Frost moved to England where he had his first two books of poetry published. After moving back to America in 1915, his reputation followed him and he was able to make Henry Holt his publisher for life. Frost taught at multiple universities, but he taught most of the time at Amherst College. Frost received more than 40 honorary degrees during his lifetime. In 1924, he received his first of four Pulitzer Prizes for his book New Hampshire. Robert Frost passed away on January 29, 1963 and left a long-lasting reputation and influence in his wake.

=== TIME Analysis

Theme:

 * Depression reflected in nature
 * Blank landscapes
 * The animals have a home, but he does not belong
 * " I am too absent-spirited to count" (line 7).
 * The snowy landscape smothers colorful nature
 * The desert kills all plants except for a few
 * Space is void of life
 * "With no expression, nothing to express" (line 12).
 * No emotion
 * Loneliness reflected in nature
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Emptiness of snow; enveloping
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Infinite space
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">" I am too absent-spirited to count/ The loneliness includes me unawares" (lines 7-8)
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Does not exist
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">No spirit, does not believe he has one
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">His presence adds nothing to the scene
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Snow erasing his presence
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Community versus isolation
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">The inability to connect
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">"The woods around it have it--- it is theirs" (line 5).
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Man has not taken over the land
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">"They cannot scare me with their empty spaces/ Between stars--on stars where no human race is " (lines 13-14).
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Sense of awe and imagination
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Inhospital to us
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Not scary for speaker
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Feel distant from people you know in same room
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Distant from yourself
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">"I have it in me so much nearer home/ To scare myself with my own desert places" (lines 15-16).
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Surrounded by community; feels like isolation
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Scares him
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Negative imagination

<span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Imagery:

 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Personification (snow) - "With no expression, nothing to express / They cannot scare me with their empty spaces" (lines 12-13).
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Personification- "The woods around it have it--it is theirs" (line 5).
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Personification- "The loneliness includes me unawares" (line 8).
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Paradox- The vast things the speaker describes are not as lonely as he holds within his own mind.
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Desolation of snow is equivalent to the natural loneliness the speaker is feeling
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Irony- "Between stars--on stars where no human race is" (line 14).
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Stars seen as hopeful and inspirational
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Speaker sees it as more isolation and vast emptiness, void of opportunity
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Imagery- "And the ground almost covered smooth in snow" (line 3).
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Vast, barren, desolate
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Sets the tone
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Hyperbole- "own desert places"
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Insinuating that he has more loneliness than the entire universe

<span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Meter:

 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">The speaker is unidentified, depressed and feels isolated
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Quatrain of four stanzas
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">AABA, CCDC, EEBE, FFGF
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Rhyme helps add flow, beat
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Third line not rhyming demonstrates downfalls in life, yet it keeps going
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Bland rhyme and then surprise third line, add excitement to the depressing theme

<span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Emotion:
>> ===
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Numbness associated with cold reflected by the speaker's attitude
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Feels isolated
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">"And lonely as it is that loneliness" (line 9).
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Falsely determined
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Last stanza
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Determine to not be scared "with their empty spaces" (line 12).
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Starts to think about space and thinks about life much closer on Earth
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Realizes that isolation is closer to home than he thought
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Depressed/Unwanted
 * <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">" I am too absent-spirited to count/ The loneliness includes me unawares" (lines 7-8).

=== <span style="color: #cc4125; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px; vertical-align: baseline;">Extra Credit === media type="youtube" key="RK_1CXTX2IU" width="560" height="315" align="center"

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<span style="color: #cc4125; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px; vertical-align: baseline;">Works Cited <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Pringle, Stephen. "Desert Places." Genius. N.p., 2014. Web. 17 Mar. 2015. <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;"> <http://genius.com/4066577/Robert-frost-desert-places/I-am-too-absent-spirited-to-count-the-loneliness-includes-me-unawares>. <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">"Robert Frost." Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2015. Web. 22 Mar. 2015. <span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">"Robert Frost." Poets.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.

<span style="color: #5b0f00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;"> <http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/robert-frost>.

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