How does Robert Frost interrelate nature into his five best poems, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," "Birches," "Mending Wall," "The Road...

In each of these beloved poems by Robert Frost, the poet uses nature as an extended metaphor for a part of the human condition—whether emotional, relational, or moral. In "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," the quiet scene of a woods and lake being blanketed by snow represents the speaker's desire for rest and escape from the responsibilities of life. The scene is described in a flawless iambic rhythm with many soft sounds, reinforcing the peacefulness of nature and the peace the man wants to find in his life. The man cannot stay in that state, however, for he has "promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep."

In "Birches," the narrator uses the trees to represent the vicissitudes of life, and he longs for the resilience he had in his youth. He imagines a boy, a "rider of birch trees," who "one by one ... subdued his father's trees." Swinging on the branches of the trees symbolizes tackling problems, not always succeeding, but enjoying the process and becoming an expert in the end. The poet writes, "I'd like to get away from earth awhile / And then come back to it and begin over." He misses the days of his youth and the feeling he had of trying hard and succeeding.

In "The Road Not Taken," Frost uses the setting of "two roads diverg[ing] in a yellow wood" to represent the decision-making process and the fact that decisions set a person on a path that can normally never be retraced. Choosing "the road less traveled by" can be interpreted to mean that the speaker chose what he saw as a nonconformist path, which, whether for good or ill, "has made all the difference" in his life.

"Mending Wall" uses nature to stand for an issue of human relationships. The "something ... that doesn't like a wall" in nature is used to represent a desire that humans should interact more naturally with each other and should be willing to reject traditional biases that obviously aren't working. The speaker wishes his neighbor could learn from nature the value of trust and cooperation rather than sticking to his father's maxim that "good fences make good neighbors."

Finally, in "After Apple-Picking," Frost uses the abundance of nature to represent what can be interpreted as the dissatisfaction caused by greed. The man wanted plenty of apples, but when it came time to harvest them, he found it wasn't worth it after all: "I am overtired / Of the great harvest I myself desired." This could represent how people who pursue only material gain will not find satisfaction. On the other hand, many also interpret the speaker's apple-picking as representative of Frost's own life's work as a poet.

Part of Frost's genius that makes his poems so cherished is his ability to relate nature to human emotions, relationships, and morals.