An Analysis Of Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening

In this essay I will touch on Robert Frost’s ability to write poems that are obviously poems, but also have a speech-like sound. Which means even though the reader can tell the work is a poem it also sounds like something someone would say in everyday speech. Specifically this essay will look at what I think is his most appealing poem, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”. I compare a paraphrased version of the poem to the verbatim poem and identify different aspects that have been lost in the translation. By analyzing different aspects of the poem I will show how Frost creates the “obvious” poem that sounds like everyday speech. First, I will summarize the poem to get a better understanding of what the poem really entails. The poem is

The similarity to a short story causes the reader to become intrigued and possibly read the poem differently and notice things they would not have if they read it like a poem. There are many lines that make the poem seem eerie: “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.” ( lines 1-4) and “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.” (lines 13-16) These few lines arouse many questions in the reader like, “Who’s the man that owns these woods and why is our main character trespassing in his property?” and “What are his promises he has to keep and why does he repeat that he has miles to go before he can sleep?” These questions are constantly being asked when reading this poem and with the help of the speech-like sound it helps the reader not focus on the words themselves but the eerie feel they collectively give. It also is worth mentioning that the author’s last name, Frost, goes hand in hand with the scenery which adds to the strange feeling of the