Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening(1922)

Summary  On the surface, this poem is simplicity itself. The speaker is stopping by some woods on a snowy evening. He or she takes in the lovely scene in near-silence, is tempted to stay longer, but acknowledges the pull of obligations and the considerable distance yet to be traveled before he or she can rest for the night.

Form  The poem consists of four (almost) identically constructed stanzas. Each line is iambic, with four stressed syllables:  Within the four lines of each stanza, the first, second, and fourth lines rhyme. The third line does not, but it sets up the rhymes for the next stanza. For example, in the third stanza, queer, near, and year all rhyme, but lake rhymes with shake, mistake, and flake in the following stanza.  The notable exception to this pattern comes in the final stanza, where the third line rhymes with the previous two and is repeated as the fourth line.  It takes the form of a dramatic monologue with strongly marked lyrical qualities. The poem is almost entirely monosyllabic which helps throw focus on the metrical rhythm and rhyming pattern that gives finality to the final stanza.  The four repetitions of the word ‘wood’, throws stress on the natural setting and the sensory impact it has on the monologist speaker, ‘Whose woods these are I think I know’.

Poetry Analyses  Stanza One  Woods can have connotations of wilderness or danger but these woods are privately owned and worked for personal use.  Pronouns stress social divide ‘I’ and ‘me’ against ‘His’ and ‘He’.  Despite belonging to another, he is alone and can enjoy their sensual delights.  This is reinforced in the third line by assonance with the long ‘e’ sounds found in words like ‘he’, ‘see’ and ‘me’.

 Stanza Two  Dissociation from others is shown by mention of there being no ‘farmhouse near’ and therefore no danger of him being seen.  His horse’s restlessness throws focus on the man’s act, a moment he controls and wants to enjoy before having to return to the demands of the real world.  He shows a level of sensitivity that one does not always see in manual workers.  Some critics suggest that he is longing for death- a darker view of the scene.

 Stanza Three  Snow falls in downy flakes and lies like a blanket.  The speaker has a fatalistic attraction to the dark woods, finding them restful but falling snow can make one lose their way literally and metaphorically.  The spell is broken by the sound of the horses’ bells, which beckon a return to the real world.  Nature is seductive in its ways.

 Stanza Four  Nature’s seduction continues with the alliterative phrase ‘lovely, dark and deep’ and it is argued that this suggests the figure is contemplating suicide.  The woods offer solitude and tranquillity rather than human society.  Different rhyme pattern helps stress the nexus between self and society, nature’s beauty and social demands.  Poetic cadence reinforced by the repetition of the last two lines.  The fluidity and dream-like state that was created by enjambment in the first three stanzas, is broken in the final stanza with the realisation that he should move on.  He has a choice between staying or leaving but no resolution is evident in the repeated last two lines, making the reader decide what is likely to happen.