The British School of Bahrain Department of English

The British School of Bahrain Department of English Unit One Section B, AS English Literature

‘Desert Places’ by 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.

‘Desert Places’ by Robert Frost (1934) The British School of Bahrain Department of English Unit One Section B, AS English Literature

1 Read the poem. Describe the scene in your own words.

2 Give each stanza a title.

3 Now look closely at the first stanza and comment on the auditory effects of rhyme, alliteration and assonance.

4 What is the meaning of the following in the second stanza: ‘have it’; ‘smothered’; ‘too absent-spirited’ and ‘to count’.

5 What does the speaker mean by, ‘The loneliness includes me unawares’?

6 How is the mood of loneliness amplified in the third stanza? Look at the use of repetition and the use of synonym.

7 Who are ‘they’ in the last stanza?

8 What is the effect of each of the dashes in the second, third, and then in the fourth, stanzas?

9 Comment on the use of rhyme, sibilance (repeated ‘s’ sounds) and assonance in the last stanza. The British School of Bahrain Department of English Unit One Section B, AS English Literature

10 What is this poem about? What possible alternative readings of this poem are there? Explain in detail the universal appeal of the last two lines.