Analysis of 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.
Analysis by Poonam Behura
Frost in the poem 'stopping by the woods on a snowy evening' assumes the character of a rider, who once pauses between snowy woods and a frozen lake in the late evening. It is because he is arrested by the scenic beauty of the place, which seems quite an unlikely circumstance that any rider could be caught in. The writer probably knows whom the woods belong to; the owner's house is in the village, far away from the woods, and there are no odds he will come by to see it in any case. Here, the behaviour of the poet and the owner towards the woods are juxtaposed to reason that the owner of the woods is a practical man as are other villagers to which perhaps the rider belongs. In fact it is uncommon for any practical and worldly person to spend a good amount of his time on contemplating on snowy woods, much less to find any such place extraordinary and appealing.
The rider is convinced that such an abrupt break from riding has struck his horse as strange for the place (woods and the frozen lake) where they have stopped seems untouched by human settlement, there being no farmhouse nearby. The rider finds the evening that day the 'darkest evening of the year'(note that he also uses expressions dark, deep in the ending stanza) because as it is, it is late in the dark, raw and cloudy winter evening, on top of that, lack of human settlement makes the darkness enhanced. The horse, being subhuman and emotionless, doesn't get the point of silently waiting, and looking at the woods. The mien of shaking its harness bells proves the horses' perturbation about the stop; it's like he is waking its master up from his hypnosis. Besides the sound of harness bells, the only other sound that the rider is that of the smooth flow of the wind giving a slight sense of it sweeping the air; as well as the sound of falling snow flakes.
At last the rider describes the woods as 'lovely, dark and deep', expressions that are evidence of how deeply the rider has fallen in love with what he saw and felt.
The last three lines make for an interesting climax to the poem'stopping by the woods on a snowy evening'.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
At first the poet seems to have made up his mind to stay at the place of the woods, admire the beauty of the woods and perhaps rest for the night in the place. But it suddenly strikes him that there are pull of obligations and seasons waiting for his labor before he has his winter's rest. 'Sleep' in the poem metaphorically means death, besides holding its literal meaning in the case of the rider. It means that the rider, everyone of us, has a long life to live and many expections to fulfill before their lives' works are through.
Don't falsely believe that the poem 'stopping by the woods on a snowy evening demands man to be just practical like the woods' owner and ignorant of nature. There are basically 2 schools of thought. One school of thought is about taking unadulterated pleasure in the beauty of nature without a second thought. Second school of thought is about not getting tempted by the pleasures, passing them on and moving ahead in the journey through life.
The real trouble is balancing the two schools of thought. The real trouble, find out how you will manage it.
*Are you like the rider in the poem or are you not? Let me know in the comments!
*please encourage me to write more for you by subscribing to this blog and sharing😊
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.
Analysis by Poonam Behura
Frost in the poem 'stopping by the woods on a snowy evening' assumes the character of a rider, who once pauses between snowy woods and a frozen lake in the late evening. It is because he is arrested by the scenic beauty of the place, which seems quite an unlikely circumstance that any rider could be caught in. The writer probably knows whom the woods belong to; the owner's house is in the village, far away from the woods, and there are no odds he will come by to see it in any case. Here, the behaviour of the poet and the owner towards the woods are juxtaposed to reason that the owner of the woods is a practical man as are other villagers to which perhaps the rider belongs. In fact it is uncommon for any practical and worldly person to spend a good amount of his time on contemplating on snowy woods, much less to find any such place extraordinary and appealing.
The rider is convinced that such an abrupt break from riding has struck his horse as strange for the place (woods and the frozen lake) where they have stopped seems untouched by human settlement, there being no farmhouse nearby. The rider finds the evening that day the 'darkest evening of the year'(note that he also uses expressions dark, deep in the ending stanza) because as it is, it is late in the dark, raw and cloudy winter evening, on top of that, lack of human settlement makes the darkness enhanced. The horse, being subhuman and emotionless, doesn't get the point of silently waiting, and looking at the woods. The mien of shaking its harness bells proves the horses' perturbation about the stop; it's like he is waking its master up from his hypnosis. Besides the sound of harness bells, the only other sound that the rider is that of the smooth flow of the wind giving a slight sense of it sweeping the air; as well as the sound of falling snow flakes.
At last the rider describes the woods as 'lovely, dark and deep', expressions that are evidence of how deeply the rider has fallen in love with what he saw and felt.
The last three lines make for an interesting climax to the poem'stopping by the woods on a snowy evening'.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
At first the poet seems to have made up his mind to stay at the place of the woods, admire the beauty of the woods and perhaps rest for the night in the place. But it suddenly strikes him that there are pull of obligations and seasons waiting for his labor before he has his winter's rest. 'Sleep' in the poem metaphorically means death, besides holding its literal meaning in the case of the rider. It means that the rider, everyone of us, has a long life to live and many expections to fulfill before their lives' works are through.
Don't falsely believe that the poem 'stopping by the woods on a snowy evening demands man to be just practical like the woods' owner and ignorant of nature. There are basically 2 schools of thought. One school of thought is about taking unadulterated pleasure in the beauty of nature without a second thought. Second school of thought is about not getting tempted by the pleasures, passing them on and moving ahead in the journey through life.
The real trouble is balancing the two schools of thought. The real trouble, find out how you will manage it.
*Are you like the rider in the poem or are you not? Let me know in the comments!
*please encourage me to write more for you by subscribing to this blog and sharing😊
A beautiful interpretation of one my favorite poems... I didn't realize an alternative meaning of the last 3 lines until, now. Thanks for writing your thoughtful blog.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorites. I read it at my mother's funeral with comments about how Frost was her favorite poet and how this poem is about both life and death.
ReplyDeleteA fine interpretation on your part.
Can you share the source of your watercolor image? ddaulton@centurytel.net Would like to use it in an article about the magic of the season with permission.
ReplyDeleteCan you share the source of your watercolor image? ddaulton@centurytel.net Would like to use it in an article about the magic of the season with permission.
ReplyDelete