Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

¶ … 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. 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 keep" suggest that traveler still has some tasks to complete before his death.

Hence, the writers present the picture as if the speaker of the poem is contemplating suicide but there are certain obligations that are keeping him from doing so and in the end the speaker avoids it in order to go back to the daily life and the mundane tasks that it offers. This poem also explores the theme of human trapped between nature and civilization (society). The speaker is drawn to the beauty of the woods which represents nature but he has certain obligations i.e.

"promises to keep," hence he drags himself away from the nature back to the society. The speaker is therefore faced with a choice of whether to surrender to the allure of the nature or remain in the society. Some critics also argue that this speaker is faced with a conflict that is whether to absorb him in the beauty of nature or to return to the society. This conflict between these two forces is the main theme of the poem.

The theme of the poem can also be interpreted as no matter how much bad the things are in life, one must continue without giving up. This poem is considered a lyrical poem and should be treated in terms of its formal qualities. The poem should be appreciated for its engaging rhyming scheme instead of just focusing on the content. The mood of the poem is that of a person caught in musing. The poet has not used any figurative images but uses only simple but effective words.

This makes the tone of the poem very light yet mysterious. The poet has very skillfully described the setting which can be visualized by us easily. It depicts the nature as a beauty that is so captivating that it captures speaker's attention and makes him stop from his journey. There are not many eloquent words used in the poem but the words such as "lovely," "dark" and "deep" reinstates the whole idea of the poem and give the readers a sense of the tone of the poem.

The lines in the last stanza "miles to go before I sleep" symbolizes that speaker might be tempted.