"Storm Fear" Analysis

Storm Fear

 

When the wind works against us in the dark,
And pelts with snow
The lowest chamber window on the east,
And whispers with a sort of stifled bark,
The beast,
'Come out! Come out!'-
It costs no inward struggle not to go,
Ah, no!
I count our strength,
Two and a child,
Those of us not asleep subdued to mark
How the cold creeps as the fire dies at length,-
How drifts are piled,
Dooryard and road ungraded,
Till even the comforting barn grows far away
And my heart owns a doubt
Whether 'tis in us to arise with day
And save ourselves unaided.

Robert Frost

   "Storm Fear" by Robert Frost can be taken two different ways. On one level, the poem is about the frightening reality of being snowed in. He describes a great storm that traps him and his family in their home. As the fire dies out he begins to question whether or not his family is strong enough to make it through the storm. However, I believe that the poem has another meaning other that the obvious message. I think he may have intended to allude to depression, as he suffered many times of depression himself. Frost uses a clever combination of imagery and metaphor in his poem. Frost uses imagery when he describes "the wind working against..."(1) them, and how the  storm "pelts with snow"(2). With metaphor, Frost adds life to the storm, making the fear feel real to the reader. He makes the comparison of the storm to a beast telling them to come out. He also says that the storm whispers and barks. He then describes the atmosphere with imagery by writing, "How the cold creeps as the fire dies at length" (12). In a way the entire poem seems to be a metaphor to sadness or temptation.