Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" is a poem that gives off different feelings the more times one re–reads it. At a first glance, it seems like a simple momentary encounter for the speaker with beautiful Mother Nature, who stops to enjoy it before returning to the long journey that awaits him. However, with the second read, as one thinks more deeply, it becomes clear that the poem is actually illustrating the speaker's journey through life. The unforeseen stopping depicts a point in life, where the speaker debates whether he wants to continue on with life or not. The poem turns from being a transparent fancy for nature to a more dramatic one, which possesses deep significance. While nature is beautiful, the speaker is...show more content...
The horse reminds him of the promises that he must keep and thus is symbolic of the logical part of a mind.
The last two lines "And miles to go before I sleep" repeat to emphasize the idea that though the woods are luring, there are still promises that need to be kept. Metaphorically speaking, the word "miles" could mean places, destinations or even tasks that require attention. The repetition makes one notice the significance of the line, which ultimately stresses the point that the speaker must give up this beauty for reality. His conscience makes him realize, that the utopia he is experiencing is short–lived. His obligations outweigh his personal indulgences, and so he repeats this mantra to himself, in order to focus back on what is important. The man is constrained by the obligations to his job, family and society. Consequently, all these obligations prevent him from realizing, how they are holding him back from living a more pleasurable life. In conclusion, Robert Frost, through his poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," presents a traveler's momentary encounter with Mother Nature. He illustrates a striking and a meaningful picture, with the use of imagery, symbolism and repetition, of what a person experiences whilst observing the beauty of nature. As the narrator gets back to his senses, he recognizes that he must finish his duties and keep his promises. Although, Get more content
I recently began reading Robert Frost poetry in my free time. A phrase within the fourth stanza of the poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, curiously mirrored the journey of Christine J. Walley, the author of the ethno–biography Exit Zero. "The woods are lovely, dark, and deep but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep," Frost writes. He presents the reader with a lone traveler trekking through the woods in search of answer. These woods display a level of complexion that may not be noticed by the everyday passerby. From a distance, one may see bark, branches, and leaves. Each tree, upon closer examination, displays a unique story of growth and maturity that takes decades to develop. Collectively, the trees represent...show more content...
The working class was deliberately marginalized, and just like Frost's traveler, Walley is unsatisfied until she understood why. Walley describes the extent of the closings of the steel mills as if "our entire world was collapsing" (Walley, p.69). Industry served as a staple to the communities in Southeast Chicago for many years. Throughout the course of its long history, a family–like mindset among employees and employers had been construed. Employees provided labor to the mills, and in return, they received a consistent paycheck. The familiar effects of the steel industry were not limited to these monetary rewards, however. The steel industry invested time and resources in the Calumet region. They funded churches, schools, and other public functions. This region, which was perceived as working–class by its wealthy neighbors, was slowly climbing the rungs of the socio–economic ladder due to the presence of the mills. Members of these communities began considering themselves as part of the respectable middle class, not the "uneducated" working class. Economic upward mobility from strong unions and high wages was noticed and felt collectively. Most importantly, for people like Walley's father, the mill provided a sense of identity. Just like his own father, Walley's father supported his family by heading to the mills, rain or shine. He worked so his wife could stay home and engage with social Get
Robert frost is a four–time Pulitzer Prize winner in poetry. Robert Frost depicted realistic New England life through language and situations familiar to the common man. Robert Frost was born on March 26, 1874 in San Francisco, California. Robert Lee Frost was a legendary American poet, still admired by many today.Robert Frost used nature in many of his writings. He was a simple man who taught, worked in a mill, was a reporter, was a New England farmer, and wrote. Throughout his life he had always been interested in literature. He attended Dartmouth College, but remained less than one semester. Probably no other American poet has suffered more misunderstanding at the hands of his readers, admirers and detractors alike, than Robert Frost. The...show more content...
Frost in fact portrays his personal experiences of life in his poetry. He doesn't have to make any attempts to search themes and write but he lives through his poems. It is impossible to separate Robert from his poetry Robert Frost depicts realistically the regional characteristics and the basic humanity of his character from his particular he rises to the universal.
CONCLUSION:
Robert Frost is a great poet of man. He portrays his poems realistically. He does not believe in escape he always faced the life with all its conflicts and complaints. Robert Frost has a deep faith in the moral values, values of life as well as in mighty God. In my view his philosophy of life is "It is better to die trusting rather than to die untrusting".
Emerson, Whitman, Frost and Emily Dickenson are the pioneers who have taken up the themes of spiritual and moral values. Whiteman throws light on what is in the meaning of the new movement of humanity. Frost too is prudent supporter of humanity. Emerson, in order to embrace the spiritual contemplation had led a theory of Robert Frost has earned a distinction as a major American poet. He is a great artist of words. His approach is pragmatic and Get more content
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening is a poem written by Robert Frost, published 1923. The poem tells a story of a man traveling through the woods by horse on a snowy night stopping, admiring his surrounding. Frost uses literary techniques throughout this poem such as alliteration, rhyme scheme, imagery, repetition, and personification which help appeal to the reader. Upon further analysis, the character appears to be familiar with his surroundings as per stanza one "Whose woods these are I think I know". Shows the characters familiarity with his surroundings. It appears that he is stopping to take in the beautiful views of the snow falling on the trees which causes the horse to be confused. " My little horse must think it queer, To stop without a farmhouse near", "He gives his harness bells a shake, To ask if there is some mistake" , from the second and third stanza. Even though he's enjoying natures beauty, he must cut it short because he still has more traveling to do. Last stanza, " 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 writer uses several techniques throughout the poem. His use of imagery; " To watch his woods fill up with snow", "The darkest evening of the year", " The woods are lovely, dark, and deep" provides the reader with a vivid picture of the characters surroundings. The author wants the reader to feel calm, comfortable, and relaxed. Frost also uses a rhyme scheme which make the poem sound musical, especially when real aloud. Alliteration the repetition of consonant sounds, mostly at the beginning of a word used to bring attention to a certain word or phrase, is used throughout the poem. For example, sound's the sweep, dark and deep, whose woods, his house, etc. The repeating of the last two sentences in the last stanza, " And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep" is repetition. Frost uses personification by giving the horse the ability to speak as if he were human. " He gives his harness bells a shake, to ask if there is some mistake". "My little horse must think it queer", is another example, as if a horse has the capability to think that something is queer. Frost may also Get more content
Don't Worry About a Thing Like the Reggae artist Bob Marley sang, "Don't worry about a thing because every little thing is gonna be alright." In Robert Frost's poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," Frost tells the story of a man and his horse who stop in the woods on snowy night to simply admire the beauty of nature as well as presenting the harshness of life. The poem is highly influenced by Frost's life, and he uses conventional symbols, personification, and tone to show that even when there are obligations and hardships in life, moving on with those problems will help enjoying life. Frost's use of conventional symbols suggests other meanings rather than being just natural scenery. Being that it was "the darkest evening of the year" (Frost 8), the speaker implies that there is a hint of death imagery. Frost is describing this night being the night his father died. Frost's life "began in San Francisco where he was born in 1874, but he found his place of safety in New England when his family moved to Lawrence, Massachusetts, in 1884 following his father's death" (quoted from "Robert Frost"). With the setting being a dark winter's night, the reader can see that these natural symbols are all pointing in the direction of death imagery. In fact, literary critic J. McBride Dabbs described the poem by saying it had "'the insistent whisper of death at the heart of life'" (quoted from "Robert Frost"). The speaker stops on this dark night to fully take in the beauty of
Robert Frost is known for his layering poetry that includes unique characters for the audience to enjoy. He, "always wants to reach for a more complicated vision, one arrived at after much pain, much "sucking up" of passive, reflected beauty" (Panini 235). This quote about Frost suggests that his writing flourishes in the face of uncomfortable subject matter, a quality most ordinary people do possess. However, Frost is not trying to steer the audience toward his way of thinking, he is simply telling us that the characters we sense in the text will have bold personalities, also known as persona. An illustration of this writing strategy is present in Frost's poem, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," from the 1928 collection, West–Running Brook. Here, Frost creates a good example of a Rubaiyat stanza that is broken into four sections totaling sixteen lines. From the moment we meet the narrator, we are aware that his persona is suspicious, from his inspections of the winter surrounding, to the focus on his odd behavior and the final reminder of a plan. What "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" deeply concerns is found in the fresh behaviors and subtle hints that the narrator presents to the reader. Due to Frost's skillful delivery of narrator's persona in this poem, the topic of suicidal thoughts is presented to the audience in an attempt to create awareness about this life threatening condition. In a strategic move by Frost, he presents us with an unreliable
"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" is a poem written by Robert Frost in 1923. In order for us to understand the message that the author is trying to depict in this poem, we must use "the drill" method. The drill method consist of analyzing the poem for devices of sound and figures of speech. The drill method is used to unravel the distilled content within the artwork. The devices of sound are resources that poets utilize in their art to project and reiterate the meaning or the experience of the poem using sound. The first thing that must be analyzed is the rhythm. Let us take a look at the first two lines, "Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though;"
Seeing that this poem has four iambs feet per line, it can be concluded that this poem has Iambic Tetrameter. Rhyme is the next device of sound to be analyzed. "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" has masculine, end rhymes; for example know, though, and queer, near. There is slant rhyme such as assonance and consonance. The evidence of assonance is in the first two lines of the first stanza, I'll take it line by line. Line one, "... I think I know." Line two, "... is in ..." The first example for consonance rhyme lies in the beginning of the second line of the first verse. "His house..." and the second example is in the first line of the third verse; "He gives his harness ..." The word wood is repeated four times throughout the poem which identifies anaphora, and at the end of the poem the last
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Diction (i.e. choice of vocabulary) The diction of "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" is extremely simple. None of the vocabulary is difficult or unusual, and most of the most of the words are short and plain, for example 'woods', 'house', 'snow', 'horse'. None of the descriptions, either of the setting, or the horse, is detailed or elaborate: the horse is simply, 'little'; the lake is 'frozen' (but we learn nothing else about it), and the only time more than one adjective is used to described anything is when we are told that the woods are: 'lovely, dark and deep'.
One major effect of such plain and simple diction is to give the poem a...show more content...
Rhyme and Rhythm Complementing and reinforcing its simple, present tense diction, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" also has an extremely regular rhythm and a deliberately repetitive rhyme scheme:
В· In stanza 1: Lines 1, 2 and 4 all rhyme ('know', 'though', 'snow'), and only line 3 ('here') does not rhyme.
В· But line 3 of stanza 1 becomes the rhyme sound for the first, second and fourth lines of stanza 2: 'queer', 'near', 'year'.
В· This format is repeated in stanza 3: the first, second and fourth lines rhyme ('shake', 'mistake', 'flake') and the third line ('sweep') does not rhyme but it becomes the rhyme sound for stanza 4 ('deep', 'keep', 'sleep', 'sleep').
В· Unlike the previous three stanzas, the final stanza is odd because every line has the same rhyme.
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
Analysis of Stopping by Woods on a Snowy EveningTo 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 Get more content
Poems can have different meanings and be interpreted in various different ways. One poem by Robert Frost is called, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening". This poem is about a man who is on his horse on a winter evening. The man rides around and takes in his surroundings. Another poem Frost wrote was, " The Road Not Taken", which is about a man facing an important decision. "Stopping byWoodson a Snowy Evening" shows a man who is gazing at the bright, fluffy snow that fills the woods. One can infer that the narrator wants to admire the beauty of the winter scene but, has to leave due to other responsibilities. Additionally, "The Road Not Taken" is about a man who comes upon two paths or decisions. He chooses the path that, at first seemed less traveled, but is worn just the same as the other path. The narrator may regret his decision later on as, it affected him greatly. The two poems have both pessimistic and optimistic tones, some having more than the other. Although one can say that there is a dark atmosphere with hidden meanings of death, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" develops a more optimistic approach because the poem shows a light, snowy atmosphere and the narrator has promises to people that must be kept. One of the reasons "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" can be seen as optimistic, is when the narrator watches the landscape. The poem says, " To watch his woods fill up with snow" and "Of easy wind and downy flake". Snow can be symbolized as
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Literary Analysis of Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening The Poem "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening" is one of the classic poems penned down by Robert Frost. Looking at the poem at first glance, it is simply about what is implied on its heading – the speaker is stopping by the woods on a snowy evening. The author describes vividly how the speaker, on his way home, stops by the woods and takes in the mesmerizing scenery. He is clearly torn between staying at the woods longer so he can continue enjoying the breathtaking scenery with the snow falling all around him or continue on his journey. However, despite the compelling allure for him to move further into the woods and experience a bit more of the deep and dark silence in the air, he decides to carry on with his journey since he still has things to do. He says to himself "but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep." But such a view of the poem is straightforward and somehow superficial. By focusing on the literal meaning on the surface of the poem, most people fail to recognize the deep inclinations and secret motivations that Frost conveys through his clever and intriguing word play that renders a diversity of meaning. The poem must mean more than just a traveler appreciating the beauty of nature. It might be a deep metaphor that represents something else which trumpets the love for nature. To get a deeper understanding of this classic and phenomenal
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Poetry in All Its Forms
Poetry's stellar form allows people to creatively observe the boundaries of depth. Forms of poetry are equal in difficulty; a portion of humankind might consider a sonnet difficult, in contrast others find it to be elementary. A poem I admire is called "stopping by woods on a snowy evening" by Robert Frost (Frost, R. 1922). As I marvel at the simplicity of this poem, I find it no wonder that it's considered a masterpiece with the words so beautifully painted inside the text. I would consider this poem to be rhyming/free verse . Poetry conforms to its own set of rules; however, rules in free verse are exiguous. Free verse carries the weight of the writer's mind, while the writer creates their own rules. It allows one the freedom to conduct the poem however one wishes. Writing free verse challenges my brain to complete multiple forms, assimilating creative juices. Free verse allows oneself to express one's soul, but if you take, for example, a haiku or a senryu that restriction makes the poem difficult to write. A haiku is difficult to master perfectly, although it is my favorite form of poetry. In poetry, imagery is required to be painted with a pen; it is essential that the reader observe what the author's imagination is showing. In conducting an interview with Ben Pickard, on a poetry site I have frequented since I started writing poetry, he expresses that he enjoys writing new types of poetry and his favorite is the sonnet. When asked Get
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening– A Stop for Death
Everyone feels burdened by life at some point. Everyone wishes they could just close their eyes and make all the problems and struggles of life disappear. Some see death as a release from the chains and ropes with which the trials and tribulations of life bind the human race. Death is a powerful theme in literature, symbolized in a plethora of ways. In "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Eve" Robert Frost uses subtle imagery, symbolism, rhythm and rhyme to invoke the yearning for death that the weary traveler of life feels.
When the speaker in "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Eve" pauses for a moment's rest, he does not do so on a simple evening, but on the "darkest evening...show more content...
Winter is a time of cold, when forests die and animals hide from the shriekingwinds and biting cold. Winter is a time for survival against theodds. How apt that the speaker is struggling against the "lovely, dark and deep" woods to remember that he has "miles to go before [he] sleep[s]." The "easy wind" calls to him, and the "downy flake" beckons him to a comfortable sleep. If the speaker had paused on a bright summer day, the sleep might be just a short rest, but the poem is set on the "darkest evening of the year" while the "woods fill up with snow," and any rest taken in the "lovely, dark and deep" woods would result in the eternal sleep of death (474).
Sleep is another common symbol for death, and "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" is filled with the essence of sleep. Every element of the poem works together to create a lullaby effect, calling the speaker and reader to a "lovely, dark and deep" sleep (474). The gentle imagery of the downy soft snow and easy wind, combined with the cadence and meter of the poem creates a lulling, rocking, soothing effect. The AABB rhyme scheme and the iambic quatrameter create a lullaby feeling, easing the reader in to a comfortable sleep.
The last two lines act as a slap in the face. Every element works toward death, and the speaker almost slips into eternal rest. One can see him, putting the Get more content
