What is the summary of the poem ""the way through the woods"" by Rudyard Kiplingwho are they in the poem
Answers
The poem begins with the mention of a road through the woods which was closed seventy years ago. The road was left undisturbed. For so many years, the weather and the rain have undone the road (destroyed) the road. The place was looking as it was before formation of that road. But now, no one could tell if there was even a road through the woods. It is because the road has disappeared beneath the bushes and scrub of different kinds of plants. It is hidden from the human eyes. After the road was closed, trees were planted. Those trees have grown up now, and that road has become the part of the wood itself.
But now the road (which is not seen, and which is now a part of wood itself) is full of activity and life. It is occupied by the ring-dove that broods there and the burrowing badger which rolls in it playfully.
Now, if anyone goes and visits the woods in the late summer evening, he or she will come to know that there is more to the road. The night air cools above the pools that are full of trout fish, and the otter calls out to its mate. These creatures do not fear human presence because very few people enter the woods.
One could hear the trampling of a horse’s hoof when the horse isn’t physically present. Perhaps, it is a ghost from the past when the road was used by men on horseback. One could hear the swish of skirts moving amongst dew covered grass. From these sounds, one could tell the difference that these people move in easy walk as if they perfectly knew where the road lay, even when a living person wouldn’t be able to distinguish it because it is no longer the road that was there seventy years back. The poet still feels that there is surely no road through the woods.