In "Tree At My Window," Robert Frost addresses a tree growing outside of his bedroom window with these words: "But tree.You have seen me when I slept, . I was taken and swept / And all but lost. / That day she put our heads together, / Fate had her imagination about her, / Your head so much concerned with outer, / Mine with inner, weather." In these lines Frost conveys several emotions and themes that infiltrate many of his works. These common themes include darkness, nighttime, isolation, inner turmoil and the premonition of death. It is through these recurring images that we are able to glimpse into Robert Frost's life, and see how greatly his life effected his poetry.
Robert Frost endured many emotional hardships in his life. Some of the most significant and tragic, are the many deaths in his immediate family. By the time Frost was 27, he had lost both of his parents, his son Elliott, as well as his grandfather, the man who had served as a surrogate father to him after the death of his own father when he was only 11. By the time Frost was 62, he was forced to commit his sister Jeanie to a mental hospital. He had also lost three more of his seven children (one to a miscarriage), as well as his wife Elinor, the love of his life. Five years later, his son Carol committed suicide.
"Spring Pools" is a reflection on Frost's inner emotions in dealing with the deaths of his children. The "pools, that though in forests, still reflect / The total sky almost without defect," are his children. He speaks of their innocence, and the fact that they are too young to know the imperfections of the world, too young to be jaded, or even scared of their forthcoming death.
The poem is entitled "Spring Pools," however; it does not give an illusion of Spring in the traditional senses of newness, rejuvenation, joy & rebirth. Rather the term "spring" is used in the title in much the same way as the term "Spring lamb," an animal whose only purpose behind being born is to be slaughtered at the end of the season.
