Bereft Frost Analysis

In Robert Frost’s poem “Bereft”, the speaker faces the feeling of loneliness. This poem follows the life of a man who believes the world is out to get him. The speaker endures darkness, the violence of nature, and the realization that he has no one left. The use of imagery in this poem provides the reader with a clear idea of how the speaker is feeling.
The use of darkness in the poem hints at the speakers feeling of sadness. “Summer was past and day was past.” Not only is the speaker in the dark of night, but he is also in what seems to be fall or winter. Because these seasons usually represent a cold or dark feeling, the use of them in this poem represents the speaker’s dark feeling of sadness. Since it is either fall or winter, the reader

“Where had I heard this wind before / Change like this to a deeper roar?” The speaker’s use of the word “roar” in this line when describing the wind gives it a vicious image of a lion. By comparing the wind to an untamed animal, the speaker begins to convey the idea of nature working against him. This vicious wind also works against the speaker when trying to open the door to a house: “What would it take my standing there for, / Holding open a restive door. The speaker is trying his hardest to open this door so that he can escape this dark and vicious night, but the wind will not allow him to. Another example of nature working against the speaker can be found in the lines, “Leaves got up in a coil and hissed, / Blindly struck at my knee and missed.” In this line the speaker gives the leaves the image of a hostile snake, another vicious animal. The word “hissed” describes the ruffling of the leaves by comparing it to the sound of a snakes’ hiss. Finally, the pile of leaves in the form of a snake strikes at the speaker finalizing the idea of nature not being on the speaker’s side. After being “attacked” by nature, the speaker comes to the conclusion that he has no one

However, he does not seem to have much hope in God either. The speaker never gives the reader a sense of his faith in God throughout the poem, so turning to God as his last resort does not seem to be very reassuring. Near the end of the poem the speaker attributes his loneliness to his secret becoming known: “Something sinister in the tone / Told me my secret must be know:” The reader is never given an idea of what the secret might be, but the use of the word “sinister” suggests that is may have been something evil. By informing the reader of a hidden secret, the speaker’s loneliness almost becomes