through the forest and indicating particular "points of interest" out to him, he is also giving the reader access into a portion of his own mind. Because of this creative approach to the writing of this poem, Frost makes the physical setting of the poem something considerably more than just scenic background. Because of the close conjunction of the setting and the thought of the poet, this setting in nature becomes an
active rather than a passive part of the poem.
This natural setting, therefore, cannot be relegated too mere backdrop. Since the physical setting provides the means whereby the thought and idea of the poet, become translated from mental abstraction into a verbalized statement about reality, that setting becomes important in and of itself. Thus, it must be presumed that Frost utilized depictions of rural New England so often not only because he knew the landscape and was familiar with it, but also because a it provided a perfect vehicle to him for the objectification of his ideas. To better understand this, one
should examine closer this landscape itself, and the way Frost uses it as a creative "tool" for expression of complex ideas:
small farms; taciturn, independent "yankees"; spare, white churches; a birch or pine forest shaded by the oncoming winter storm; newly-fallen snow; rustic villages--these are the elements of idyllic world. This landscape is described as an American "Arcadia," a world wh
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