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Darkness and the fear with which it is often associated forms the basis of two intertwining themes in the poetry of Robert Frost. Loneliness is also present in the poems that have darkness as their main theme. The sense of fear and loneliness that is associated with darkness is most often applied to nature and human nature: two major topics in Frost’s verse. ... The focus of this essay, then, will be to discuss the theme of darkness in a few of Frost’s poems and to show that fear and loneliness accompany the darkness in the poems.
One of Frost’s earliest poems which reveal loneliness and fear as elements of darkness is “Storm Fear.” This poem, taken from A Boy’s Will, addresses the theme of darkness and ambiguity in nature. Set in a rural farmhouse during a winter snowstorm, “Storm Fear” exposes the speaker’s fear of his vulnerability to the elements of nature. ... As the snow covers a nearby road and eventually even most the barn, the speaker’s fear of nature’s ominous magnitude becomes most evident: “. ... Thus, the mere unpredictability of nature causes the speaker to have fear, especially in the darkness of this lonely winter evening.
Frost continues to explore the topic of darkness in “The Fear.” In this poem, however, loneliness and fear are the result of the ambiguity of human nature. The poem, appropriately set near a rural homestead in the darkness of night, leaves the reader guessing the fate of Joel and an unnamed woman who is presumably either his wife or lover. “The Fear” primarily concerns the fear of a stranger whom the woman and Joel see as they pass him on an unlit road on their way home. ... ” (35-39)
The woman’s apparent burst of bravery only results from the realization that if she does not face her fear now, it will soon escalate:
“ . ... Eventually, the stranger recognizes her fear and replies: “ ‘You seem afraid/ I saw by the way you whipped up the horse/ I’ll just come forward in the lantern-light/ And let you see’ ” (72-74). ... The poem is successful, then, in making the reader aware of terror amid the darkness.
In “Storm Fear” and “The Fear” darkness, when accompanied by loneliness, leads one to have feelings of fear and dread. Most importantly, however, is that:
If nature and human nature have the power to reduce man to a fearful sense of
his own smallness, his own lostness, in a seemingly indifferent or even
malicious universe, then one suggested way to confront such fear is to imagine
life stripped down to its most naked forms in order to decide what is left to go
on with, and to weigh the question as to whether the possible gains are worth
the necessary cost.
Approximate Word count = 2212
Approximate Pages = 8.8
(250 words per page double spaced)
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