In the work of Robert Frost he has certain ideas and themes that can be found in many of his creations of literature. Nature is one theme that seems to play a major role in the poetry he writes. Robert DiYanni wrote in Modern American Poets that "nature appears as a powerful, dangerous, and cruel force, its purpose and design not immediately apparent" (232). Frost demonstrates his use of nature in these four selected poems: "The Road Not Taken," "Birches," "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," and "Desert Places." In the poems he uses nature to symbolize aspects of real life situations that humans face.
             We all face countless choices in our lifetime. Some decisions to these choices are obvious while others are not. Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken" uses nature to introduce two separate paths the speaker comes upon in the woods (line 1). Here Frost is faced with the decision of which path he will choose to travel. I see this poem as one traveling down the straight and narrow "road" of life until confronted with a "fork" in the road and a choice must be made about where one is going to go in life. In the two poems "Birches" and "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" Frost is introduced with making a decision about wanting to leave earth because he feels that his life is going nowhere such as a "pathless wood" ("Birches," line 44). Then, later on in life Frost is introduced with the choice whether or not to commit suicide in his poem "Desert Places." Frost uses nature such as the path in the woods and the fork in the road to represent the countless choices that all humans !
             When one is faced with two complicated choices we try to examine what each one has to offer, but often one is not able to foresee all of the consequences. Frost illustrates this in the poem "The Road Not Taken"...