Analysis: Robert Frost's "Into my Own"

[Lawrence]

ONE of my wishes is that those dark trees,
So old and firm they scarcely show the breeze,
Were not, as 'twere, the merest mask of gloom,
But stretched away unto the edge of doom.
I should not be withheld but that some day
Into their vastness I should steal away,
Fearless of ever finding open land,
Or highway where the slow wheel pours the sand.
I do not see why I should e'er turn back,
Or those should not set forth upon my track
To overtake me, who should miss me here
And long to know if still I held them dear.
They would not find me changed from he they knew
Only more sure that all I thought was true.

I have my own interpretations of this poem, and I've thought long and hard about it, too "Frost is a god", but I'd love to hear some of your thoughts.

[billy]

i'm not as into frost as you and i think jack are/is but i'll give it a go when i get back from the work run.

[billy]

ONE of my wishes is that those dark trees,
So old and firm they scarcely show the breeze,
Were not, as 'twere, the merest mask of gloom,
But stretched away unto the edge of doom.
I should not be withheld but that some day
Into their vastness I should steal away,
Fearless of ever finding open land,
Or highway where the slow wheel pours the sand.
I do not see why I should e'er turn back,
Or those should not set forth upon my track
To overtake me, who should miss me here
And long to know if still I held them dear.
They would not find me changed from he they knew
Only more sure that all I thought was true.

I have my own interpretations of this poem, and I've thought long and hard about it, too "Frost is a god", but I'd love to hear some of your thoughts.

for some reason the old trees are foreboding to him, i interpret them as a metaphorical death. of childhood maybe. the trees being the big wide world
he ponders if hell be missed by loved ones and states that he'll still be the same person he was when he returns, if he returns.

the highway is life and the wheels that pour the sand are time, it's this vision that spurs him to his journey, to find his own time and life. he wants to know what's out there. he also wants to know why others don't feel trapped as he feels.

way out i know but it's my take on the poets intent.

[addy]

Yeah, it seems that to him the trees/forest represents a gateway into a different world and a different life... grass is greener and all that. It sounds a little to me like he wants to escape civilization and the laborous, inevitable life that comes with it (he talks of never wanting to run into open land and highways). Of course, the message could simply be more universal than that: just the longing for escape, and that feeling that you might belong somewhere else.