Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”: An Analysis

Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. My little horse must think it queer To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year. He gives his harness bells a shake To ask if there is some mistake. The only other sound's the sweep Of easy wind and downy flake. The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.

The plain sense of the poem

To Whom these woods belong To Whom these woods belong? I think they belong to a man in the village, But he won’t see me stop here to watch The snow fall on the trees of his woods. My horse that I ride must be thinking It is strange to stop at this time of the night. I stopped in-between the woods and the frozen lake, On the night with no moon. The horse shakes the bells, As if he were to ask if I had made a mistake. There is no other sound in the woods Except the whistle of the wind. The woods are beautiful and dark, But I have many commitments to keep, And I have to travel a long time, A long way before I have time to rest.

The figurative and symbolic meaning

The poet presents a statement about one’s mission in this life The mission of the poet is writing poetry. Each one of us has many things in mind to accomplish before we die. How much can we accomplish? We do not know

The journey in the woods is very much like one’s journey in life The journey in the woods is very much like one’s journey in life. It can have sad moments and happy moments. Perhaps snow stands for the happy moments in one’s life since they are transitory and short. The dark night connotes the hardships and difficulties that one faces. The poet seems to see life a dark long path that one is compelled to travel.

The pessimistic atmosphere is intensified by the sheer silence of the place; no sounds are heard other than the bells of the horse and the hissing sound of the wind. The poet finds life worth enjoying but he does not find the time to enjoy himself. Sleep in the poem is a symbol of death that seems to be disappointing to the poet

The form of the poem: The poem is a lyric; it narrates personal feelings and it is musical. The music in the poem is achieved by the meter which is iambic tetrameter and the end rhyme in addition to the internal musical follows of certain collocations. The rhyme is aaba bbcb ccdc dddd. The pattern of rhyme that the poem follows links the four quatrains of the poem in a network of relations. The first three quatrains rhyme aaba and the last quatrain ends with a mono rhyme. The poet employs the rhyme of the third line in each quatrain in the following one.

Poetry Scan The ballad Poet Meter The Sonnet Poem Iambic Free verse Stanza Pentameter Classical poetry Quatrains Alliteration Blank verse Couplets Assonance Metaphor Rhyme Personification Simile Rhythm Symbolism Meter The lyric

A simile: a comparison with the use of “as” or “like” Oh! My love is like a red red rose A metaphor: a comparison without the use of “as” or “like” Oh! My love is a red red rose A symbol: an implicit reference that allows for different interpretations Oh! My red rose