Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Stopping by Woods on a Snow Evening is a poem that Robert Frost wrote in a single sitting in the year 1922 during a break when he was writing another long poem titled New Hampshire. Both these poems were published in his collection titled New Hampshire in 1923. Robert Frost gained international fame and won four Pulitzer prizes as a poet, yet, he retained the reputation of being a regional poet who prominently wrote about the nature and woods of New England. He is known as a nature poet for his beautiful depiction of nature in his poem through which he extracts valuable meaning and messages helpful for human life. Stopping by Woods is a similar poem in which, the narrator, who probably is a trader or transporter, is going on a business trip when he reaches a dense wood during his travel on his horse. As he stops for a brief moment amid a snowy evening in the woods, he gets mesmerized by the beautiful natural scenery. For a moment he wishes to leave everything aside and stay there in the marvelous nature forever. He’s torn between staying in the woods and heading home. But he realizes that responsibilities weigh more than the loveliness of the scene and decides to move forward. It appears like a swing that Frost described in Birches, a short reclusive moment to refresh and nurture one’s emotional and mental health, to proceed for fulfilling the worldly burden and responsibilities with new vigor. The double-mindedness of the narrator about staying in the woods or going forward to his village reminds us of The Road Not Taken as the narrator has to take a decision and proceed.
Structure of Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
It is a short poem consisting of 16 lines ensembled in four quatrains. Robert Frost used the Rubaiyat stanza pattern popularized by Edward Fitzgerald who translated The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Each stanza is written in iambic tetrameter with a rhyming scheme confirming AABA, except the last stanza which follows DDDD. The overall rhyming scheme appears AABA-BBCB-CCDC-DDDD.
Frost used euphonic elements in each stanza. In the first stanza, each rhyming word ends with the sound of ‘oh’. In the second stanza the euphonic symmetry of queer, near, and year is apparent. The third stanza offers a euphonic resemblance of shake, mistake, and flake. The last stanza offers a euphonic similarity of deep, keep, and sleep. Imagery has been used perfectly. In the third stanza, Consonance has been used perfectly with the sound of ‘s’. The poem ends with a repetition of “and miles to go before I sleep.” Sleep is used as a metaphor suggesting absolute rest of satisfaction of fulfillment of responsibilities, promises, fulfillment of the day, tour, business trip, or the fulfillment of life. The poet here is actually trying to express that anyone in his or her life has to keep on moving as there is a pile of duties waiting to be fulfilled before sleep, or true rest, that can be death. The narrator suggests that there can be no true rest before the fulfillment of responsibilities.
Themes:
The major themes of the poem are exhaustion, fatigue, depression, optimism, commitment, and responsibilities. Robert Frost mentioned that he considered this poem as his “best bid for remembrance.” The narrator is exhausted and fatigued and he gets a moment of a recluse when he is completely alone. The moment is truly silent and tranquil, like a period of meditation. The narrator feels a sense of tranquility and isolation from all worldly burdens during that moment of a recluse. The horse of the narrator plays the part of the warning, reminding him that no matter how isolated he feels at this moment, life doesn’t stop. That solitary moment makes the narrator realize that it is not the true rest and that he has to cover miles before he could attain that satisfaction or fulfillment.
Summary of Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening
1st Stanza
“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.”
The title of the poem works as the beginning and then the first stanza continues. The narrator is traveling through the woods for some business trip or domestic errand. As the evening reaches, he stops nearby the dense woods which seem familiar to him. He has seen these woods in past from a distance. He knows the owner of the land who lives in a nearby village. As it is evening time and it is snowing, the narrator is confident that the owner is nowhere near, as he must be within his home in the village while his woods are all white, as snow accumulated on them. As the narrator realizes that he is alone, he cannot resist taking advantage of this solitary moment to feel the beauty of these woods on a land that is not his own.
Stanza 2
“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.”
The narrator mentions his horse as ‘little.’ This shows that the narrator is of humble background. Maybe the horse is literally little, that is, a pony. The narrator is an ordinary citizen who cannot afford a fancy horse. The horse is very dear to the narrator and he is very considerate about his carriage as he notices his horse and interprets what the horse might be thinking. The narrator says that his dear horse is perplexed as the narrator has stopped by the woods near a frozen lake. It is certainly not a destination or stopping point as there is no farmhouse or shelter nearby. The weather is intense as the lake has frozen. The horse would rather prefer running until he reaches a warmer place. It is the darkest evening of the year. This may suggest that it was a tough day for the narrator and he is depressed and fatigued due to the long journey and harsh weather. The darkness is growing as the night is approaching and this further perplexes the horse as it would prefer to reach a safer place. But the stubborn narrator seems to adore the immediate present as opposed to imminent danger. The narrator is mesmerized by the beauty of the moment and he is finding it difficult to choose and make up his mind, either to stay in the woods and let the darkness engulf him or proceed towards his village or destination that is still afar.
3rd Stanza
“He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sounds the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.”
The narrator uses ‘He’ for his horse, which further shows his considerate nature and love towards the animal. The animal is also considerate towards the narrator as he is worried about the narrator and wondering why the narrator has stopped at this odd place. The narrator suggests that the horse can understand or read his mind and to express his disagreement, the horse shakes his head and neck. This shakes the harness bells of the horse and they ring. The playful sound of harness bells indicates the horse’s will to move forward and not stop in this gloomy and solitary woods as the imminent danger of dark night is approaching. Though it appears the best of natural scenery, the wind is flowing at ease while the snowflakes are coming down heavily, which suggests that there is no chance of improvement in the weather and it will keep snowing. The solitude is intense as the poet can hear only three sounds, the wind, the ringing harness bells, and the falling snowflakes.
Stanza 4
“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.”
In this stanza, the narrator describes the woods as lovely, dark and deep. The narrator states that it is the most serene and peaceful position and moment that he could have, the peace cannot last for long. The narrator is mesmerized by the beauty of the moment which makes him forget all the burdens and troubles he had faced throughout the day or in past. But his burdens, toughness, and responsibilities of life are still there that he has to face. These beautiful woods are wonderful distractions, and anything that can keep one’s mind off the troubles is a welcome addition to any day. But real life and responsibilities haven’t vanished, they still exist.
The woods are dark and deep. Which suggests the imminent danger of the dark night approaching. The narrator’s horse already warned him about it. The woods that appear so beautiful, and lovely at the moment, can prove to be merciless and dangerous as the dark night approaches. The poet uses ‘But’ to express his intense desire to stay put by the woods and cherish the scenery of the moment, yet, he has to overcome this desire and stop his meditation on nature as he has myriads of promises and responsibilities to fulfill. These promises and responsibilities could be of any type ranging from marital responsibilities to business accountabilities. The promises could be the goals that he chose for himself.
The poet further contemplates the beauty of the woods and the imminent danger and suggests that these woods can be the endpoint of the journey of his life as the imminent danger of dark night is gradually engulfing the woods. This danger fills the narrator with an urgency to move forward toward his destination as he still has many responsibilities to fulfill. He is standing in no man’s land, miles away from reaching a friendly zone. This sense of responsibility fills the narrator with optimism and he makes up his mind to move forward.
The narrator admits that the dark will ultimately engulf him too, but it is not the right place, despite all the natural beauty and serenity, it is not the right time. He still has to struggle and avoid the darkness (or death) and further his journey to fulfill his promises, desires, and goals.
So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of American English Literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.
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