Compare And Contrast Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening And My Ántonia

Adriana Ramirez

Dr. McCredie

English 146

31 January 2017

Willa Cather’s My Ántonia and Robert Frost’s Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Two works of American literature that were composed in the 20th century, a time of many changes for the country of America are Willa Cather’s novel My Ántonia and Robert Frost’s poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening. Cather and Frost are authors who include descriptions of scenery in their American literature writings, which play a highly important role in contributing to the theme of their stories. While there are also other elements in a literary work, such as rhyme scheme and language, imagery is one of the strongest. Cather tells the story in the context of World War I about individuals who are

As the novel progresses, the narrator describes once again the setting of the environment: “When spring came, after that hard winter, one could not get enough of the nimble air. Every morning I wakened with a fresh consciousness that winter was over. There were none of the signs of spring for which I used to watch in Virginia, no budding woods or blossoming gardens” (79). This passage is important because it reflects what was stated earlier in this paper, that the theme of man and his relationship with nature is one that has a pivotal impact on how an individual will see life. There are many immigrant farmers in My Àntonia and whether an individual will see life with hope or misery depends in large part to the environment that they put themselves

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening is a short read with one character in it, but yet there are many details to ponder upon and analyze. And like Cather, Frost places a lot of emphasis on the details of setting in his works. In Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, Frost describes the journey of a man who in between “the woods and frozen lake,” and “the darkest evening of the year,” stops suddenly with his horse to see the magnificent nature that has perhaps drawn his attention (233). The idea that it is unusual for an individual to stop from his usual route in dark and snowy conditions is prevalent in this very poem, but the idea that there is human connection with the environment is even