When Frost tells us, "You must not mind a certain coolness from him (18), he is suggesting that the relationship between the glacier and the travelers is that of an elder looking calmly upon a junior. The enormous age difference between the glacier, which is a relic of the past, and the traveler implies that the glacier has seen a large part of or even all of human history. Frost implies that the glacier is well aware of the difference between the past and the present and that it knows for certain that the past is the superior time period. The woods, which are the next natural landmarks that the traveler encounters, also support this idea. When Frost writes, "As for the woods' excitement over you/That sends light rustle rushes to their leaves,/Charge that to upstart inexperience(23-25), the implication is that the trees in the woods are more experienced than the traveler because of their age. Their excitement stems from the fact that the traveler is going further into the past and therefore into a better time period. The trees' excitement also gives them a sense of youth in comparison to the cool glacier. Although the trees are older than humans and know that the past is better, they are still younger than the glacier and still have much to see and learn.
When the traveler passes through the glacier and woods and arrives at the abandoned town, Frost begins to romanticize the past on a more individual level in order to elaborate upon the details that show why the past as a whole is superior to the present in terms of its nostalgic value. Despite the fact that the abandoned town is in shambles, Frost's speaker encourages the traveler, "Make yourself up a cheering song of how/Someone's road home from work this once was (29-30). Even in the face of an abandoned town, Frost's speaker wants the traveler to look further into the past and understand the simple details of an individual's life.
Throughout history, there have been many famous poets, such as Robert Frost, William Shakespeare and Emily Dickinson. ... The weather sets an image of chaos outside, which drastically contrasts with the calmness of the narrator's chamber. ... The eye is compared to that of a vulture's; animal imagery is common to Poe's work. ...
