The Lessons of Nature In the short narrative Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin, Louise Mallard, the main character, learns that her husband is killed in a railroad disaster. After a brief moment of sadness, she begins to chant freedom for she realizes she is no longer trapped by her marriage. She looks out of her open window to see birds flying and the season changing into spring, all symbols of freedom. For her, nature is a symbol of her new freedom. Often times in literature, nature is used to symbolize freedom such as in Robert Frost’s poems, “Birches” and “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening”. In both poems the speakers are captivated and distracted by nature causing them to be drawn away from society. Both poems use nature as a symbol of freedom; however, Frost uses different characteristics of nature in both poems to show the different societal forces that the speakers are trying to escape. In both “Birches” and “Stopping by the woods on a Snowy Evening”, Robert Frost uses descriptive language and symbolism to describe and manipulate the natural world to show the relationship between man and nature. Furthermore, in “Birches” and “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening”, the speakers are burdened with tasks by society but are drawn away from these burdens by nature. The woods in “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening” represent an escape from the speaker’s responsibilities. The speaker is on his way to complete some type of task or duty and on his way to complete his task he passes the woods. Captivated by the beauty of the woods, he stops his journey to admire the nature. The speaker does not usually stop and stare into nature because even the horse asks, “if there is some mistake” (Frost line 10). However, for a brief moment the woods distract him from completing his assignment, for the woods are an escape from reality. The speaker describes the woods as ”lovely, dark, and deep” which is the perfect description for a location to sleep or rest (Frost line 13). When the speaker stops moving, he only hears the sound “of easy wind and downy flake” which gives the impression that the woods are restful similar to a deep sleep (Frost line 12). The snow falls in downy flakes like a blanket to lie under and be covered by. However as all restful sleeps must come to an end, the speaker’s nap from society must also end. The speaker desires to stay and observe the woods but he is drawn away by his tasks that are forced upon him by society. The speaker has “miles to go before [he can] sleep” but first he must finish his journey (Frost line 15). The poem is about a man's attraction towards the woods, which distract him from his responsibilities. Similar to “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening”, “Birches” shows the desire to escape from society through nature. However in “Birches” the speaker imagines playing a childish in game in nature to escape rather than just starring into nature. The speaker of the poem is walking through the woods and looking at the top of the trees. He comes across a few trees that are bent over and describes the process of how the trees bend. However, the speaker likes to believe that some trees are bent over because “some boy's been swinging them” rather than by natural causes (Frost line 3). This act of nature has now been turned into a childish game. The boy spends his days swinging on the trees moving from tree to tree to bend them all. The child reminds him of when he was younger and he too used to swing on birches. He reminisces about the times he could play and fool around outside. He misses those days because now that he is an adult “life is too much like a pathless wood” (Frost 44). Often times the speaker feels lost or overwhelmed in life by the duties assigned to him by society. The speaker recalls how easy life was when he was young, just climbing trees all day. He wishes that when he feels trapped or lost he could climb a tree as he did when he was a child and he
