Robert Frost

The Sound of the Trees

I WONDER about the trees.
Why do we wish to bear
Forever the noise of these
More than another noise
So close to our dwelling place?
We suffer them by the day
Till we lose all measure of pace,
And fixity in our joys,
And acquire a listening air.

Trees as speakers

Personification of trees as entities that 'talk' but never actually leave. Notice how Frost gives them agency.

They are that that talks of going
But never gets away;
And that talks no less for knowing,
As it grows wiser and older,
That now it means to stay.

Existential stasis

Trees represent a metaphor for human indecision: talking about change but ultimately remaining rooted.

Restless human impulse

The speaker's physical movement mirrors psychological tension—head swaying, feet tugging, suggesting inner conflict about staying or leaving.

My feet tug at the floor
And my head sways to my shoulder
Sometimes when I watch trees sway,
From the window or the door.
I shall set forth for somewhere,

Impending departure

Final stanza suggests eventual movement—a 'reckless choice' that contrasts with previous immobility.

I shall make the reckless choice
Some day when they are in voice
And tossing so as to scare
The white clouds over them on.
I shall have less to say,
But I shall be gone.
Source Wikipedia Poetry Foundation

Reading Notes

Metaphysical Restlessness

Frost explores the human tension between desire for change and fear of movement. The trees become a psychological landscape, simultaneously representing stasis and potential.

The poem's structure mimics this tension: lines that start declarative and contemplative gradually build toward a sense of potential action. By the final stanza, the speaker promises departure, but with a curious passivity—'I shall have less to say, / But I shall be gone.'

Natural World as Psychological Metaphor

[CONTEXT: Frost often uses landscape as a way of exploring inner emotional states.] Here, trees are not just natural objects but living symbols of human indecision. They 'talk of going' but never actually leave, much like humans who dream of change but remain rooted.

Notice how Frost uses precise, conversational language to make this philosophical observation feel intimate and personal. The trees' 'voice' becomes a mirror for human hesitation.