This document provides an analysis of symbolism in the poems of Robert Frost. It discusses common symbols Frost used such as nature, death, and isolation. For the poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," the woods symbolize temptations and the desire to delay responsibilities. The line "And miles to go before I sleep" symbolizes the duties one must complete before death. It also analyzes symbols in poems like "Fire and Ice," "Mending Wall," and "The Gift Outright."

1. ravibhaliya5@gmailcom

2.  Introduction
 What is Symbolism?
 Stopping by woods…
 Fire and Ice
 Mending Wall
 Home Burial
 Design
 Gift outright
 Conclusion
Index

3.  Critics say that Frost was a poet of
Pastures and pain , Mountain and rivers ,
woods and garden , fruits and flowers ,
seeds and birds .
Frost’s best poetry exhibits the
structure of symbolic poetry, much
more Clearly than does of many a
modern poet
Clenath Brooke Points
out..
Introduction

4. What is Symbolic Imagery
 Symbolic imagery refers to images within an artistic work, often
including novels, poems, films, and other works, which are symbolic
in nature.
 Imagery is the use of language or other facets of storytelling that
appeal to the senses of a reader or audience, usually through
descriptions of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and feelings.
 This type of imagery is often used in fiction and poetry to create a
more dynamic scene for the reader, often by showing the reader
what is going on rather than telling him or her what happens.
 Symbolic imagery, however, is imagery that serves a symbolic
purpose, rather than a strictly literal one.

5. What is symbolism
 Symbolism is the use of symbols to signify
ideas and qualities by giving them symbolic
meanings that are different from their literal
sense.
“ Symbolism means use of
symbols like objects , character
,use of color to represents
abstract idea or quality. ”
According to Oxford Dictionary

6. • Here woods are symbolizes as contrast to
civilization. Through this poem woods can be
categorized as a symbol of death
• The most significant symbol in the poem
“stopping by woods on a snowy Evening”
would be woods.
• The woods may symbolize temptations in life,
from a view they seem mysterious beauty.
• And some are tempted to stay and enjoy the
view, but the traveler chooses to continue his
journey through life to reach his destination,
which should be our goals in life too.
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy evening
Woods

7. “And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.”
Here this line suggests that Death is the
ultimate reality of the life but before that one
has some duty to fulfill and the words like
“miles to go” indicates that there are so many
works and responsibility and one has to
compete.
So here “sleep” symbolizes the death.
Death is not the greatest loss in life .The greatest loss of
it what dies inside us while we live.

8. Nature:
In this poem, nature is the symbol and
the snow is a symbol of coolness, while frozen lake
is a symbol of the death and chillness of life.
Horse:
In this poem Robert Frost takes Horse as a symbol,
which symbolizes as a soul of the poet.
Village:
Village is symbolized here as society and civilization

9. Fire and Ice
Fire: Warmth, Emotions, Desire
Ice: Coldness, Dryness, Hatred
 Both are extremes and these extremes lead
towards destruction.
 Fire symbolize for desire,
 and ice symbolizes here for hate.

10. Mending Wall
 This poem has literal and
hidden meaning, which
symbolizes religious, political
and economic conflict,
national, religious, racial and
prejudices which divide man
from man and come in the
way of mutual understanding
and harmonious relationship.

11. “Good fences make good neighbors”
So this line is symbolized with an old man his young
neighbor, the two neighbors represent the problem
between traditional and modernity.
Young
Aged Tradition
Modernity

12. Home Burial
 So here this poem can be read as a tragic double entendre.
The mother in this poem can’t forget that her husband
himself dug the grave of their buried child. She thinks her
husband a uncaring person. The memory of the child has
separated her from her husband. The husband is a simple
man and is baffled by the excessiveness of her sorrow.
 Home Burial symbolizes: Strain, Isolation, and Alienation
1. The death of a young child
2. The death of a marriage/ Relationship

13. Design
 In this poem the poet believes that
there is a power that governs things
that occurs, some unknown power
weaves such appealing “designs of
darkness”. But in the end the poet
admits possibility that there is no
design or plans that coming together,
of the white spider, white flower and
Moth
 So at last Robert Frost tells and gives
nature as a symbol a kind of mother
MothSpiderFlower

14. ‘The Gift Outright’
 This poem ‘The Gift Outright’ symbolizes
Religion. Therefore, this poem begins with an account of
the coming of the British colonist in America.
 So they become the colonials of America and called our
country as their motherland. They lacked the patriotic
feeling for the land they lived in. they believed in
possession but not in belongingness.
 Here in this poem the patriotic feeling for the country of
an individual is observed or rather than in very simple way.