Explication of Desert Places by Robert Frost

      Its mere title has a play on connotation and denotation. A desert is barren, dry and lifeless- quite the opposite of “ground [that is] almost covered smooth in snow”. Snow and desert-area contrast, making it clear that by desert, Frost implies barren, empty, and alone, ultimately deserted. Words and phrases like “absent-spirited”, “loneliness”, and the repetition of “lonely” solidify the solitude he is describing. Even a snowy field suggests this because looking at a field covered in snow, there is nothing. It is almost an eerie feeling. Even the animals are hidden away, “smothered in their lairs”. These animals could be both in the wilderness or humans, for both conceal themselves during winter.

                In reality, what effect do these empty, deserted places have on Frost? He feels a sense of loneliness and isolation, true, but it is not everlasting. I believe this is why he uses snow, for all winter is creates a bareness but it can change: once it melts, it gives way to new life.

The overall tone of the poem is peaceful. However, Frost implies being overwhelmed in his last stanza. He uses the pronoun “they”, personifying whatever it is that is trying to “scare [him] with their empty spaces”. I don’t think Frost is truly afraid, but instead he has a hard time comprehending all that is out there in the earth. People tend to be afraid of the unknown, which is the suggested connotation of scared. Talking about empty spaces, he brings up space it’s self which is unimaginable when thinking about its size and what fills it. We can only see stars from earth, and these stars are little lights surrounded by darkness. Their light amongst darkness is hopeful however Frost dismisses this for it is intangible and it is too vast, and too far away to worry about. He has other “desert[ed] places”, close to home, which intimidate him.