Symbol Analysis
The details of the flowers and the snake kind of pop up out of nowhere in this poem, after all the abstract talk of dreams and gifts. The fact that they are the only living things to be named in the poem is a pretty big hint that they are important. Since the flowers that Frost chose to describe are feminine and reminiscent of delicate female anatomy, while the snake is masculine and reminiscent of delicate male anatomy, it seems pretty plain that Frost is talking more about the birds and the bees than flowers and snakes—if you get our drift.
- Lines 10-12: The flowers and snakes show up right after the narrator starts talking about love. He makes it a point to say that the flowers are feeble and the snake is scared, which makes us believe what he's really saying here is that true love is hard work and those who are only after a roll in the hay will be cut down or scared away by it. In fact, now that we've used that metaphor, the whole thing at the end about "leaving the hay to make" takes on a whole new meaning.