Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening Essay

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Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

"Stopping by the woods on a snowing evening" is regarded as the masterpiece of Robert Frost. The theme of this poem has been debated widely. On one hand, some argue that speaker of the poem is just simply gazing at the beautiful nature; on the other hand some argue that the speaker is contemplating suicide. If we examine the poem then we will find that there are deep layers in the poem and the speaker merely looking at the nature is just the superficial layer. The speaker in the poem is basically faced with a dilemma of choice and he feels suicidal but eventually plans to move on due to his unfinished responsibilities.

The speaker of the poem (presumably a man) is a traveler who is on a journey with his horse on the darkest night of the year. He stops on his way to gaze at the woods that are filled up with the snow. He believes that the owner of these woods is someone who lives in the village and probably won't see him stopping on his property. The speaker finds him away from all the human beings and we get the feeling that he would rather be alone in these freezing cold woods than to go back to the village. While he is admiring the beauty of the woods, the horse of the speaker impatiently shakes the bells of his harness. This brings him back to the reality and makes him conscious of his surroundings. He is attracted by the beauty of the woods but he feels that he has obligations that need to be fulfilled. He faces the hard time making the decision but he ultimately decides to pull him away from the allure of the nature and move ahead on his long journey.

The setting of the poem is classified as a freezing cold winter evening in the dark and deep woods.

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The speaker is travelling through the rural environment on his horse. He stops on his way to watch the snow quietly for some time in the woods. The woods seem to belong to someone else but we get the image that the owner of the property is not present.

There are various themes that can be interpreted from the poem. In one way, the poem is symbolic in nature in a way that it reveals the hard struggle that people face in their lives. It shows that because of this struggle they feel tired and develop a desire to have a temporary relief from the responsibilities of their lives. This poem hence shows that although the traveler wanted to stop in the woods, he had obligations to finish and therefore, he continues with his journey.

The central theme of the poem revolves around the speaker's dilemma to decide between the allure of the nature and the obligations of the life in the human society. Thus, speaker has to make a choice of whether to return to the warm comfortable setting or to stay in the woods filled up with snow. However, the obscurity of the poem had also lead to the interpretation of many other themes. Some critics believe that speaker resisted the allure of the nature and decided to return to the human society. Many other critics argue that speaker is contemplating suicide i.e. The trees that are bare represents a sad image and the winter shows the sadness and the woods that are "dark" and "deep" represents the allure of the death. The phrase "miles to go before sleep" suggest the long life that is ahead of the traveler. Sleep may be used as a metaphor for death. "Some promises to….....

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"Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening" (2012, September 14) Retrieved June 29, 2024, from
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