The subjects of "The Forester" by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson are the practical needs of civilizations and the unwritten laws of nature.
In the first stanza, the speaker is describing the loud, screeching, noises of a sawmill that seem to silence the outside world to the workers and "filled the hut with such a tearing din". The buzz-saw is made out to be evil because of the sound it makes and how it tears at the wood. Nothing is heard or understood until "The belt snapped and the blade stood still"; stopping the "screeching" sound that it makes. When the sound had stopped, a stranger had come in.
In the second stanza, the belt to the saw flew through the air just missing the speaker as he stepped to the side. After the belt had passed by him, the spirit of Mother Nature softly touched his shoulder blade. As the speaker turned to see who had touched him, he saw two shadowy ponds deep in the forest that represented the eyes of nature.
In the third stanza, the speaker looked deeper into the eyes and saw that there was no sparkling sunlight reflecting off of the pond. Instead the ponds were dark and harsh. The appearance of the ponds hit his soul and sent a chill through his body and "with icing blood he stood". As he continued to look, he saw the pine trees which seemed to him to be the "pine-dark hair" of nature. With the chill in his blood, he recognizes the spirit of the wood, the spirit of nature.
In the last stanza, the Forester realizes that for years he had cut down, the trees, "To feed his ravening mill", with no sense that nature was watching. Mother Nature sighed and turned away. She did not question the forester, she just walked away slowly as the Forester’s life began to darken into reality. After he has a dim picture of the real beauty and purpose of the forest he decides to follow Mother Nature and not destroy anymore of her beauty.
This poem speaks out that nature is aware of what people do to her throughout the world. It shows that she is always looking down and someday might come to you. She is not there for just practical needs but also is there for her beauty. The unwritten law of nature is there to say enough is enough and to stop anymore destruction of her own face which is there for all to enjoy in its natural state of being.