Comment 6 of 6, added on January 28th, 2009 at 5:47 PM.

There's definitely a typo - the first stanza should say "heart" not hear.

T

Comment 4 of 6, added on May 17th, 2006 at 1:55 PM.

O.K. I don't think I've gotten to the bottom of this one yet, but I have a feeling that this poem is more about the seeker than the hider. The surface reading is that, yes, we create personas for ourselves, and therefore alienate ourselves from each other ("a place apart...afar...away"). Also, the speaker says that in the end, those of us who are too good at concealing ourselves are forced to "speak and tell us where they are." However, I think Frost thinks it unfortunate that the hider must give himself away. Think about hide and seek. The fun of the game is the power struggle, the difficulty of finding a good hider. What happens though, when someone is too good at hiding? The seeker says, "I give up. Where are you?" Unless the hider wants to be abandoned and left completely alone, he is forced to yell out, "I'm in the closet." This ruins the game, and takes away that exciting moment for both players when the discovery is made (the revelation!). The same goes for our personas. If we are always stating our literal feelings to try to "inspire the understanding of a friend," we are giving away our hiding places. The true joy in relationships is when we don't just give ourselves away, but we are found "really out." In other words, the moment of revelation can never happen if the hiders out themselves, and the seekers quit seeking. The same goes for God, this poem, and all mysteries. They hide themselves behind metaphor, for when the true seekers find them out, they are blessed with the bliss of revelation.

Jordan from United States