“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” is Robert Frost’s one of the greatest poems that gets the attention of the contemporary writers and the readers.
Not belonging from the ‘Romantic Age’ he possesses nature as the central character. This poem is published in 1923 along with “The Road Not Taken”.
This poem sends Robert to the centre of success. The poem is of the experience of the poet where he is travelling by the woods and suddenly he becomes astonished with the beauty of nature.
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Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening Theme
Here, nature plays a central role. The story sets in a dark forest where the poet is travelling and suddenly he gets affiliated with nature.
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening Central Idea
So, if a reader reads it from the heart then it can feel that the poet is addressing the beauty of nature. And not only that with the beautiful nature he also tries to connect the death or ‘human mortality’ by the last two lines,
“And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.”
These last two lines are very significant because the poet had promises to keep and that is why he left the beauty of nature.
After a deep observation of the poem a reader will understand “time” is the central theme of this poem.
Poem Stopping by Woods Summary
Before starting the poem it is needed to know that he was traveling through wood and perhaps this is wintertime.
So, in the first line, he is saying during his voyage that he knows well who is the owner of this dark forest but he is very much sure about it.
He is near this woods and he has already reached his house because after coming out from the woods he will get his house. Now he is uttering that,
“He will not see me stopping here”
The lines signify that where he stationed himself this not his own place maybe that is why he can not stand for many times.
Stopping by the Woods Analysis
As the season is winter the owner will not come to the grave to see the woods are filling with snow. But now a question arises that who is the owner of this woods?
Perhaps he is trying to say that God is the owner of this woods who is not watching him.
Now at the beginning of the second stanza, he starts saying that his little horse is perhaps thinking this stop is weird because there is no house in this grove.
The destination is a house so the horse must think without a farmhouse why his man is pausing him. Now, the poet is describing nature by two lines these are,
“Between the wood and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year “
Where the pauses his hoarse it was in between the woods and a frozen lake and there were none except the poet. He also describes the evening as the darkest evening of the year. The second stanza ends here.
Now his hoarse is knocking the poet by shaking its bells and trying to say to its master that did he made any mistake in the voyage.
At that time, an easy wind comes up and shakes the poet and there was a sound of this wind. Now suddenly from the romanticism, Robert Frost comes to the gigantic reality where the poet made many promises that he is needed to make them fulfill.
“The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,”
Maybe the poet would stay in the woods because does not have any promise. Nature and wintry atmosphere make him fall in love with that but he can not do.
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost Tone
He is needed to go to his house because the time is passing. The poet does not have to do many times for watching the beauty of the world. This is the tone of the poem.
He will have died once and before that poet will fulfill all his promises. The last two lines clear the concept very much,
“And miles to go before I sleep”
Rhetorical Analysis
The first thing that takes place is the rhyming scheme of this poem that is ‘AABA’ and the poem is written in iambic tetrameter.
Techniques
The poem has decided into three stanzas that are being called ‘Quatrains’, the four lines stanza also comes in the literature as ‘Persian Poetry’.
Except that, we will have some literary devices that are, Refrain, Personification, Imagery, Alliteration,
The refrain is a style of writing where a single line is repeated in the poem several times.
“And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.”
Then comes Alliteration, which means the repetition of vowel sounds in a single sentence like whose woods, he his, sound’s sweep, etc.
Then comes Imagery, this is used to express images in front of the reads. These are horse’s bells, farmhouses, dark evening, etc.
Personification is also a literary device that the poet used to show the mind of the hoarse. By this line,
“He gives his harvests bells a shake”
These are all devices that are being used in the poem.
Questions and Answers
How is nature represented in Stopping by the Woods?
Nature is represented in a dark evening with snow and breeze.
What is the literal meaning of the poem Stopping by Woods?
The literal meaning is time never stops for looking at beauty.
Who is the speaker of Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening?
Robert Frost is the speaker of Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.
What is the central theme of the poem?
Nature and time is the central theme of the poem.
What type of poem is Stopping by Woods?
This is a romantic poem.
