count". The snow throws its blanket of whiteness over everything and to him it is a feeling of numbness. "The loneliness includes me unawares". The speaker has lost his enthusiasm for life. He can not express his feelings easily because of this feeling of numbness. The speaker is also in denial about feeling alone. He is at a stage where he just does not care about too much and he is feeling a bit paranoid. "They cannot scare me with their empty space." He is saying who cares how I feel, I do not need anyone else. "I have in me so much nearer home/ To scare myself with my own desert places". The speaker was starting to realize that he had shut himself off to the world. He recognized that this winter place was like his life. He had let depression and loneliness creep into his life and totally take over like the snow had crept up on the plain and silently covered it. If he continues to let these feelings run his life, eventually everything would be snuffed out much like the snow does to nature. "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" is a much happier and more upbeat poem than "Desert Places". This poem is about stopping to enjoy life or as the cliche goes, stopping to smell the roses. "But I have promises to keep, / and miles to go before I sleep". The speaker in this poem was a very busy man who always had obligations to fulfill and places to go. A feeling of regret is present. The man would like to stay and enjoy this private nature scene longer but he knows that he has other things to do. Again, Frost gives us a beautiful nature scene but this time we enjoy welcome solitude. "The woods are lovely, dark and deep". This poem expresses the joy of nature. The speaker seems concerned about what the rest of society would think about him just stopping in the middle of nowhere for no apparent reason. His horse represents society. "My little horse must think it queer / To stop without a farmhouse ...
