Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost

 Robert Lee Frost (March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963)

                                                              Robert Frost

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 sounds 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.

Introduction: - Robert frost is known as the Nature poet, modern poet, and a Lyric poet. We find natural element in his poetry He is also known as Regional poet. He is known as a Lyrical Genius because of his use of pure lyric as personal and subjective their simplicity, intensity, and melody, dramatic lyrics Diction and versification and the use of Juxtaposition of opposite.

A Comprehensive Explanation

   Once a poet riding on a horse passes through the forest, where the snow was gently falling and covering it. He stops to enjoy natural beauty of the forest. The poet says that he knows forest’s owner who lives in a village. He could not see him stopping there. His horse would think it strange to stop by woods because there was no farm house between forest and lake. It was considered darkest evening of the year. The sound which he could hear was of the blowing winds and falling flakes of snow. The horse moved the bells of harness in order to confirm whether his master has made any mistake. The scene of forest was very charming but poet remembered his promise which he has to fulfill. He has yet to travel a long distance before he may go to bed.

Critical Analysis of the Poem:

“Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening” is a simple exquisite poem consisting of four stanzas and each of which very minutely describes the poet’s sudden stop amid the evening forest and some moments there and ultimate decision to leave the place. Within short duration of the poet’s lonely moments, the poet pronounces some lines that are controversial in its nature to a reader. If a reader goes through the poem seriously some questions will surely haunt his mind. In the opening stanza the poet frankly states of his relief that he has got, securing the fact that the owner of the woods will not see the poet because of darkness and the sheet of snow. But how the poet perceives the loveliness of the surrounding in the last stanza - “The woods are lovely”. If the owner fails to see anything because of darkness, - “The darkest evening of the year”, then how the poet becomes able. But the veil that shrouds this poetic thought can be removed along with some other questions if we cast our look on the context of the poem.

One afternoon, the poet went out to buy some Christmas gifts for his children. But here he became utterly dejected and depressed as he failed to by something worthy to them. Here his heart cried for his inability as a father to offer them some splendid and valuable gift on the Christmas day. With a bitter heart the poet was returning through the forest in the evening and the poet stopped in the lonely place - “without a farmhouse near”– far away from the human society; he stopped “between the woods and frozen lake” – a place between the civilization (lake) and the solitary place (woods). The poet’s situation is very much common to us as when we are saddened, we want to spend some moment in a lonely place. Then the poet’s gloominess of his heart plunges into the surrounding and makes it totally dark and it appears to him “the darkest evening of the year”. To say the poem might have taken a dejected mood throughout if the horse had not rung his harness bell that made the poet to think that it was his endearing horse- “little horse” that might share some of his heart- rending moments asking “If there is some mistake”. The ring of the harness bell turns the poet back to the present platform from where he is absent due to his lonely moment and sad heart. Then the poet goes to concentrate on the nature with a bit romantic attitude – “The only other sound’s the sweep/ Of easy wind and downy flake/ The woods are lovely dark and deep.” Even we read the poem in a flow, the flow seems to be hindered here and it seems that the poet has composed the lines suddenly as if his concentration towards nature is drawn here. Here the poem appears to be a romantic one. Certainly here by the three lines the poet wants to paint the nature with adjectives “lovely, dark and deep”, calling the wind “easy”, and feeling the flake “downy”. But without these lines nowhere the poet is towards nature as he only reiterates his personal thought and feeling. Obviously the poem has simplicity, but the poet is not escapist here. Though he is in a lonely place but he never wants to be lonely from the stress and strain of society and duty as he says “But I have promise to keep / And miles to go before I sleep” or he does not show any inclination of moving towards the deep forest leaving the society or duty or even the last three lines the poet speaks of leaving the natural beauty behind. So it is safer not to call it a romantic one but a sad poem or a dark poem where the poet blends the darkness of his heart with the darkness of the surrounding. The poet does not want to spend more time there as he is reminded of his duties to perform. But what the poet means by “sleep” in the last two repeated lines- “And miles to go before I sleep”. Perhaps the poet hints at the unnatural death caused by hypothermia in excessive chilly weather. The poet has been caught in a violent  thought that he may perish in the weather if he stays a little more, so he has to travel a long distance to reach his destination to offer the gifts to his children – “But I have promise to keep” before “sleep”. But if the poet refers to his natural death by “sleep”, then as an American, he clings best to the habit of the American peasants who want to struggle throughout their life to “keep their promises” towards their children, their family or even towards their fields.