Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost

 

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

[By -- Robert Frost]

1. Summary : 

One evening the speaker was on his journey to his destination (the place to which some one is going/ goal). He was riding through a deep dark forest. The weather too wasn't good. There was a snow fall.

The woods owner used to live in a nearby village, and the speaker knew him well. But he wasn't to meet the speaker at that time because he even didn't know that the speaker was there at time in such a worst time.

It was the darkest and windy evening of the year with snow fall. Even the lake was frozen in extreme cold. 

The speaker was attracted by the beauty of the woods and the snowfall. He stopped his horse and started enjoying the beauty there.

But his horse thought it to be quite strange to stop in the cold, dark and lonely (solitary, uninhabited) jungle, even without a farmhouse to stay there at night. He gave a shake to his harness bells to warn his master that it was a mistake on his part to stop there, forgetting his aim and destination.

At this the speaker realized his mistake. It was a foolishness to stop and waste time there. He was reminded that in spite of the loveliness of the woods, he had his promises to keep. And he resumed his journey.

Thus the central message of the poem is that we should stay focused on our goals, commitments and our promises of our lives, without being distracted by the different allurements and temptations of the world.

2. Stanza - Wise Explanation and Questions and Answers

1st Stanza:

"Whose woods are these 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."

Explanation :

In this stanza the speaker sets the scene. He informs us about his journey and what happened there. He was riding through a forest.

It was a deep dark forest and and there was a snowfall too. The beauty of the woods (forest) captivated him. 

 He even knew the owner of the jungle too, who lived in a nearby village. But the speaker was sure that the owner won't see him in the jungle at that time of the hour, so he could enjoy the natural beauty of the woods with a snowfall. 

Questions and Answers :

Question 1. Who is the speaker here ?

Answer : The speaker of this poem is a traveller who is travelling through a jungle. 

It may also be said that the traveller is the poet himself.

Question 2. Who does 'I' refer to ?

Answer : Here 'I' refers to the traveller.

Question 3. Where is he right now ?

Answer : He is in a woods right now.

Question 4. Why does the speaker stop by the woods ?

Answer : He stops by the woods to observe the snow fall and beauty of the woods.

Question 5. Identify the season.

Answer : The season referred to here is the winter season, because the woods were filled up with snow.

Question 6. What do you mean by 'woods' ?

Answer : 'Woods' are large area of land covered with thick growth of trees. We can call them forest also.

Question 7. Where does the master (owner) of the woods live ?

Answer : He lives in a nearby village.

Question 8. Where is the house ?

Answer : The owner's house is in a nearby village. 

Question 9.  Why does the speaker think that he knows the owner ? Why can't he (the owner of the woods) see the speaker in the woods ?

Answer : The owner might be either an acquaintance or a friend of the speaker. The speaker knows where he is from. So he makes a guess that he knows the owner.

He can't see the speaker because he is the in the forest, and certainly the owner won't come in the cold dark forest in this worst weather.

Question 10. Do you think the speaker is happy standing in the woods ?

Answer : Yes, he is happy there because he stopped there to enjoy the beauty of the forest. He feels relaxed thinking that the owner isn't to come there to disturb him.

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2nd. Stanza :

"My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and the frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year."

Explanation :

This stanza presents the horse's reaction to his master's stopping in the woods. 

The horse, however, was sensible. He felt it strange that instead

of continuing his journey, his master had stopped in the woods in the dark, cold evening, without any particular reason. It was not only dark and cold, but there was a snow fall too. And they were still far away from their destination. 

There was not even a farmhouse near anywhere to spend the night. It was not sensible at any cost to kill time there between the woods and the frozen lake instead of continuing their journey.

Questions and Answers :

Question 1. What is meant by queer ?

Answer : 'Queer' means something or some situation to be strange or odd.

Question 2. What must the horse find strange and queer ? Why ?

Or

Why should the horse think it to be queer ?

Answer : Although they had to cover a long distance yet, and the weather was getting worse in the deep dark forest, his master had stopped the journey. There was not even a farmhouse near anywhere to spend the night. 

So the horse felt it queer.

Question 3. Where was the speaker (poet) ?

Answer : He was between the deep dark forest and the frozen lake.

Question 4. What is the figure of speech we find in these lines ?

Answer : The figure of speech that we find here is 'Personification'.

Here the horse has been personified. He rightly thought that it was not sensible to stay there in the dark forest in such a worst weather, and without a farmhouse near to stay night. Only a human can think so. 

As the horse presented here thinks like a human being, we find the use of personification here.

Question 5. Where has the horse stopped ?

Answer : The horse has stopped between the woods and the frozen lake.

Question 6. Do you think the horse was in support of the speaker's decision ?

Answer : No, the horse was certainly not in support of the speaker's decision. He foresaw the dangers of killing time sopping there, and this made him think strange.

Question 7. What was the evening like ? Why ?

Answer : It was a deep dark and evening. As the poet has depicted (pictured) the winter season, we can think that winter evenings are darker than the summer evenings.

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3rd Stanza :

"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."

Explanation :

This stanza tells us about the horse's reaction of spending time in the jungle, and his efforts to communicate with his master.

He thought that staying in the woods in  dark evening in such a worst weather was not sensible, he wanted to warn his master of the consequences of doing so. 

He wanted to confirm if the master really intended to stay there in the woods. It would be a great mistake to do so. But as he couldn't speak, he shook his harness bells, making a sound to attract his master. 

[A horse with a harness bell]

In the silence of night only three sounds were audible : the harness-bell's sound, the sound of the blowing wind and the sound of the falling of the snowflakes.

Questions and Answers :

Question 1. What does 'he' refer to here ?

Answer : Here 'he' refers to the horse.

Question 2.Why did 'he' give his harness bell a shake ?

Answer : As he couldn't speak like humans, he shook his harness bells to get his master's attention.

Question 3. How did the horse communicate with his master.

Answer : He did it by shaking his harness bell, and thus making a sound.

Question 4. How does the horse react ?

Answer : The horse reacted by shaking his harness bells as if reminding his master to resume their journey, by cautioning him against the dangers of wasting away time there.

Question 5. Describe the sounds in the poem.

Or

What are the sounds that the speaker hears in the woods ?

Answer : There were three types of sounds in the woods. Along with the sound of the harness bells of the horse, there were the sounds of blowing winds and the sound of falling snowflakes.

Question 6. What does 'sweep' mean here ?

Answer : In this reference 'sweep' means the soft gentle blowing sound of the wind.

Question 7. What does the downy flakes mean ?

Answer : Downy flakes are the soft snow crystals falling there in the woods at that time.

Question 8. What effect does the silence have on the speaker ?

Answer : The silence had a calm and and soothing effect on the speaker, for that reason he had sopped and started enjoying there forgetting his journey.

Question 9. Why did the horse consider it a mistake to stop by woods ?

Answer : He considered it a mistake to stop there because it was almost night, the weather was getting adverse and nasty with the snow fall. On the top of that, there was not even a farm house near anywhere to spend the night.

Question 10. What does the line "He gives his harness bells a shake/ To ask if there is some mistake." ?

Answer : It simply means that the horse indicated that it would be a mistake to spoil time there in the dark jungle.

Or perhaps it wanted to know if there was some problem which had stopped the master to move ahead.

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4th 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."

Explanation :

"This stanza tells about the speaker's resolve (taking decision) to resume his journey, breaking the temptation of staying in the woods." 

The horse and the master (speaker) had a good communication. The master read his mind right. He understood what the horse wanted to tell. 

The horse's timely warning brought the speaker to his senses He realized that although the woods were lovely, he had a long way to go. He was still far away from his destination. He had some promises to keep. He had no time to waste away in the woods.

He determined to continue his journey, and he resolved (decided/ made up his mind) not to take rest (sleep) until his destination came. He had still miles to go ahead. He expresses his resolve by repeating the line "And miles to go I sleep" two times. 

Symbolically, here 'woods' stand for the different allurements (temptations/ attractions) in our lives, which distract us from fulfilling our duties and responsibilities. We should not pay attention to such temptations, and should remain focused to our goals of life.

Life has a short span, and we have to do lots to achieve our goals.

Questions and Answers :

Question 1. How were the woods ?

Answer : The woods were lovely, dark and deep.

Question 2. What are the promises that the poet has to keep-up ?

Or

The speaker was talking about which promises ?

Answer : Although the promises are not mentioned in the poem, but we can guess them. He might have promised his daughter to attend her birthday party, or might have promised his family to arrive before the dinner time, or he might have some job related promises.

Question 3. What is the poetic technique we find in this stanza ?

Answer : There is the use of alliteration in the first line: "The woods are lovely, dark and deep".

Another poetic device is the repetition of the last two lines. By this means the speaker gives emphasis that he has to go a long away to fulfil his promises.

Question 4. Find out the alliterated words in this stanza.

Answer : We find alliteration in the first line of the stanza :

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep"

Here /d/ sound is repeated two times.

Question 5. What do the last two lines symbolize ?

Or

Explain the lines "Miles to go before I sleep/Miles to go before I sleep"

Answer : Here the poet has used the poetic device called 'repetition', which is used to give emphasis to some point. 

Here by repeating the sentence two times the speaker wants to draw the attention of the readers to his determination of resuming (beginning again/ restart something) his journey and not to stop or take rest before fulfilling his commitment.

These two lines symbolize that we should be focused to our duties and responsibilities in our life. We should not be distracted by any thing . 

We have to do lots of things in a short life span.

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3. Some Short Questions and Answers 

Question 1. What are the promises the narrator has to keep ?

Answer : Although the promises are not mentioned in the poem, but we can guess them. He might have promised his daughter to attend her birthday party, or might have promised his family to arrive before the dinner time, or he might have some job related promises.

Question 2. Justify the title of the poem .

Answer : The title of the poem is self-explanatory (easily understood). 

While riding through woods one snowy dark evening, the speaker is captivated by its beauty and stopped there to enjoy it. The horse was, however, more sensitive, and understood the consequences of stopping there at that hour and in such a bad weather.  

He warned his master about them, and the master understood his hints, and resumed his journey.

As every thing happened in the woods, so the title is very suitable for the poem. It gives the readers a direction to think that something is going to take place after stopping in the woods.

Question 3. What is the setting of the poem.

Answer : The title of the poem itself tells us enough about the setting. The poem is set in a woods through which the speaker was riding. It was a deep, cold dark evening, and it was snowing. He was captivated by the beauty of the woods, and stopped there. 

But his sensible horse warned him about the consequences of stopping thereat that time and weather, he resumed his journey.

Question 4. Why according to the poet did the horse shake its harness bells ?

Answer : The sensible horse did not like the idea that his master had stopped there in the woods in such an odd time and worst weather. He anticipated the consequences of stopping there.

 He wanted to convey his master the idea that stopping there anymore would only invite more troubles, so they should continue. But, as he could not speak like a human, he gave his harness bells a shake, and thus conveyed the message to him.

Question 5. What is the main message of the poem ?

Answer : The main message of the poem is that we should be focused to our duties, responsibilities and commitments in spite of every temptation and distraction of life.

Question 6. What information does the poet highlight about the season and time of the day ?

Answer : The poet has given a clear information of the setting, highlighting the season and the time of the day .  

It was winter season, and there was a snowfall. The lake was frozen. The phrase "The darkest evening of the year" might tell us that it was perhaps 21st  or 22nd December, when evenings are always longer and darker.

Question 7. How can you call it to be a metaphorical poem ?

Answer : This otherwise simple poem has a deeper metaphorical meanings. 

In its deeper meaning this poem is a metaphor for life-journey and death. The poet has presented the metaphor by the choice of his diction (the choice and use of words in a writing). 

From the very beginning, the poet has been using somber words like 'deep', 'dark' 'frozen lake' etc. Such words and phrases imply death. 

As we come to the last two lines of the poem, we find an extended metaphor in the repetition of the last two lines. Here 'sleeps' denotes death. And here comes the message of the poem, we have several commitments to fulfil before we leave the world.

Question 8. In which way is the reaction of the speaker different from that of the horse ? What does it convey to the readers ?

Answer : Riding through the woods the speaker feels captivated by the beauty of the it. He stops and enjoys it.

 But the horse understands that his master has forgotten about his aims and destination. He is sensible enough  to foresee the  consequences of delaying in the woods instead of continuing their journey. He draws the master's attention, and conveys his ideas. And the master reads his mind right, and finally resume the journey.

Thus the difference of their perspective tells to the readers that several times in our lives we are stuck in a dilemma of different choices, but we should be very careful in taking proper decisions.

Question 9. The speaker is aware of two choices-- what are they ? What choice does he make ?

Answer : The speaker has two choices in the poem, he can either stay longer in the woods and enjoy its beauty, or he can resume his journey to fulfil his commitments. He makes the second choice, and resolved to move forward to his aim.

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4.A Brief Analysis of the Poem

1. Name of the Poem : Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening

2. The Poet : Robert Frost

[ Robert Frost : 1874 - 1963 ]

Robert Frost was a leading American Poet. He is known as a poet of nature.

One of the major themes of of his poetry has been 'Man's relationship with nature'. He believes in the man's existence in the natural world. 

According to him man should live in harmony with nature and not to go against it.

3. Time Period : This poem was written in 1922, and was published in his volume New Hampshire in 1923.

4. Genre : It is a lyrical poem. It is a short poem and has a musical quality. It appeals to a single emotion -- fulfilment of commitments in the face of all the temptations, allurements and distractions of life.

5. Speaker : The poem has been presented in a narrative mode. The speaker is a traveller, riding through a deep dark forest, and tells us what happened there.

The poem is presented in a first person perspective.

6. Form and Structure : This poem consists of four quatrains (a stanza with four lines). There are four stanzas of four lines each. 

In each stanza the first, second and fourth lines rhyme, but the third line doesn't.

But the last stanza is different. All the lines of the stanza rhyme to each other.

The poem is written in Iambic Tetrameter, having four stressed syllables in each line.

7. Rhyme Scheme : The rhyme scheme of this poem is : AABA/ BBCB /CCDC/ DDDD.

8. Themes : The poem has more than one themes. 

• Relationship between man and nature
• Co-existence between living things and nature
• Human isolation in the natural world
• Journey of life
• Importance of time
• Distractions on the way to success: allurements, temptations etc.
• Dilemma of life 
• Keeping up duties and responsibilities of life in spite of every temptations and distractions coming on the way.

9. Tone :

• Reflective
• Contemplative
• Serene
• Calm

10. Mood :

• Somber
• Poignant

11.Central Message : We must be committed to the duties and responsibilities of life in spite of every temptations and other distractions.

12.  Major Literary Devices Used in the Poem :

• Personification : [Personification is giving human like characteristics to non-humans] Here we find personification in the  portrayal of the speaker's horse. A horse can not think like humans about consequences of a particular situation, or try to communicate his master to warn him.
• Hyperbole :  [It is an overstatement to emphasize something]   Example : "To watch his woods fill up with snow". This line is an overstatement because in fact the woods are not filled up with snow. The speaker only wants to say that the snowfall was very thick, and the leaves were covered with snow.
• Synecdoche : [Synecdoche is using something small to stand for something larger.] Here the poet has tried to present the journey of life through the individual journey of the speaker. 
• Imagery : There is a very good use of imagery in this poem. Followings are the examples of imagery use in the poem :--

1. Visual Imagery : [It is a literary device that uses the sense to create images of sight to create images in the reader's mind.] Some examples of this imagery in this poem are : White snow, Lovely dark and deep woods etc.
2. Tactile Imagery : [It is a literary device that tells what we touch or feel] Some examples of this imagery in this poem are : "frozen lake", "easy wind and downy flake" etc.
3. Organic Imagery : [This imagery appeals to personal experiences of a person's body, including emotions and the sense of hunger thirst, fatigue, tiredness, pain etc.] One example of this imagery is 'Sleep'
4. Kinesthetic Imagery : [This imagery describes the movements and actions of people and objects.]  Some examples of this image in this poem are "filling up": this shows the motion of falling snow/ "sweep of the breeze" .
5. Auditory Imagery : [This imagery appeals to the sense of our hearing.] Some examples of this imagery in this poem are the sound of the horse's bell, the sweeping of the wind etc.

• 12.Alliteration : [It is the repetition of consonant sound.] Example : "s" sound is repeated in line 11 : "The only other sound's the sweep...", "He gives his harness bells a shake"  etc. 
• 13.Assonance : [Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in words that are close together in a sentence or phrase.] An examples of this from this poem is: "Whose woods are these I think I know".
• 14.Metaphor : This poem is important for the use metaphors, which help to give the deeper meaning of it. The poet has been using somber words like 'deep', 'dark' 'frozen lake' etc. Such words and phrases metaphorically imply death. In the last two lines of the poem, we find the use of an extended metaphor in the repetition of the last two lines. Here 'sleeps' is a strong metaphor  denoting death. Going miles ahead before taking rest(sleeping).  And here comes the message of the poem, we have several commitments to fulfil before we leave the world for ever. Thus the speaker's journey through  the woods is a metaphor for one's 'life journey'.
• 15.Repetition : [Repetition is a literary device in which poets repeat words, phrases or sentences to create a desired effect.]  The last two lines of this poem are good example of 'Repetition' : "And miles to go before I sleep/And miles to before I go". Through this repetition the speaker tells that he still has many obligations and commitments to fulfill, and he even can't think of taking rest before fulfilling them. At the same time by this repetition the speaker emphasizes his sense of duty and his resolution to resume his journey.
• 16. Different Symbols used in the poem :

1. Woods : Symbol of attractions and allurements of our life/ symbol of isolation/ mystery
2. Village : Symbol of civilization/society and companionship
3. Horse : Horse is the symbol of intuition/ 
4. Dark and Deep Forest: symbol of obscurity and vagueness 
5. Sleep : it is the symbol of death
6. Nature : Symbol of seduction/ solace

• 17. Euphony : It is having pleasant musical quality in a poem. In this poem the poet has brought 'Euphony' by a combined use of words that sound pleasant together, its metrical pattern, its rhyme scheme etc. 

(Readers are kindly requested to leave their comments and feedbacks in the comment box given below)

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