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Stopping by the woods on a snowy evening by Robert Frost
Stopping by the woods on a snowy evening by Robert Frost
Stopping by the woods on a snowy evening by Robert Frost
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The use of poetry holds the ability to easily portray an array of emotions and philosophies. The intricate language that lies in poetry allows the writer to vivify images for the reader. In Robert Frost’s writing, he uses a multitude of images that often deal with nature to write on themes of death and sorrow.
Frost’s use of imagery to depict death can be seen in his poem, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” Frost begins the poem with the speaker stating, “He will not see me stopping here to watch his woods fill up with snow” (Stopping by Woods 540). This statement could possibly be interpreted as the speaker not wanting to be seen stopping in the woods by God. The man in the village can be thought of as God because “[h]is house is in the village” and Frost’s use of house is similar to the house of God. Frost uses the imagery of the woods in the previous statement to depict death (Stopping by Woods 540). Therefore, the speaker watching the dark, cold woods fill with snow is an image used by Frost to hint that the speaker is contemplating death or suicide and that the speaker knows God would not like him thinking of death as an option. According to John Ogilvie, “The poet is aware that the woods by which he is stopping belong to someone in the village […] but at the same time they are his, the poet’s woods too, by virtue of what they mean to him in terms of emotion and private significance” (230). This idea that the woods belong to the poet is an essential idea to Frost’s poetry because Frost’s life was plagued with death and death is significant to him because it played a major role in his life.
In “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” Frost uses the imagery of nature to portray the life of the speaker. Frost describ...
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...ing” Literature: A Portable Anthology. Ed. Janet E Gardener, Beverly Lawn, Jack Ridl, and Peter Schakel. 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford, 2013, 540. Print.
---. “The Road Not Taken” Literature: A Portable Anthology. Ed. Janet E Gardener, Beverly Lawn, Jack Ridl, and Peter Schakel. 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford, 2013, 536. Print.
Ogilvie, John T. "From Woods to Stars: A Pattern of Imagery in Robert Frost's Poetry." South Atlantic Quarterly 58 (Winter 1959): 230. Rpt. in Poetry Criticism. Ed. David M. Galens. Vol. 39. Detroit: Gale, 2002. Literature Criticism Online. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.
Stern, Fred. "Robert Frost: One Acquainted with the Night." World and I Mar. 2013. Academic OneFile. Web. 25 Apr. 2014.
"The Road Not Taken." Poetry for Students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski and Mary Ruby. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 1998. 194-204. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 26 Apr. 2014.
Welty, Eudora. “A Worn Path.” Heritage of American Literature. Ed James E. Miller. Vol. 2. Austin: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich., 1991. 1274. Print.
The poem, “Stopping by Woods…” speaks of a time that the author paused during a trip to simply enjoy the quiet and beauty of nature. During this short stop, he contemplates mortality and his life so far. Frost also cleverly uses the poems form and sounds to enhance the poem, to entice the readers senses, and immerse them in the scene.
Stern, Fred. “Robert Frost: One Acquainted with the Night.” World & I, vol. 28, no.3, Mar 2013, p. 2 EBSCO/host, proxy.campbell.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pw&AN=87555602&site=pov-live.
Print. Frost, Robert. “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening”, Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry and Drama, Robert DiYanni, Sixth ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2007. 767.
Pritchard, William . "On "The Road Not Taken"." On "The Road Not Taken". A Literary Life Reconsidered, n.d. Web. 13 May 2014. .
Frost, Robert. “The Road Not Taken.” Literature and the Writing Process. Ed. Elizabeth McMahan et al. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River: Pearson, 2007. 695-696. Print.
Robert Frost uses metaphor and symbolism extensively in ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’, developing deeper and more complex meanings from a superficially simple poem. Frost’s own analysis contributes greatly to our appreciation of the importance of metaphor, claiming that “metaphor [is] the whole of thinking,” inviting the reader to interpret the beautiful scene in a more profound way. However, the multitude of possible interpretations sees it being read as either carefully crafted lyric, a “suicide poem, [or] as recording a single autobiographical incident” . Judith Oster argues, therefore, that the social conditions individual to each reader tangibly alter our understanding of metaphor. Despite the simplicity of language, Frost uses conventional metaphors to explore complex ideas about life, death and nature. The uncertainty, even in the concluding stanza, that encompasses the poem only adds to the depth of possible readings.
"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" is a regarded as one of Robert Frost’s best pieces of work. However at a first glance, one typically overlooks the poetic finery of Robert Frost’s work. He embeds ambiguous meanings that allow the reader to take a dual interpretation of the text. The iambic tetrameter along with the simplicity of the poem conceals the actual meaningfulness. While creating a deeper meaning Frost also provides a perspective that gives off a remote and solitude feeling. The poem highlights the evening of a man who pauses to take a look at the beautiful scenery lying ahead of his long journey. “The simple words and rhyme scheme of the poem gives it an easy flow, which adds to the calmness of the poem” (Analysis 1). Deconstructing Robert Frost’s, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”, creates a meaning that one may overlook at a first glance due to the simplicity of the poem. From the imagery and the simplistic structure, the reader is tempted to literally interpret the poem; however, one must analyze the rooted significance that is in Robert Frost’s poem.
Mertins, Louis. Robert Frost: Life and Talks - Walking. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1965. 135.
Richardson, Mark. The Ordeal of Robert Frost: The Poet and His Poetics. Urbana: University of Illinois, 1997. Print.
Gerber, Phillip L., Robert Frost Revised Edition, ed. Kenneth Eble, New York, Twayne Publishers, 1982.
...uses his poetry to celebrate, compare, and contrast the beauty of nature and rural living. Throughout Frost’s poetry he draws upon the beauty of nature to build up vast amounts of scenery. To contrast from nature, Frost also uses the integration of industrialized rural life. Frost uses nature to build the beauty in his poetry, but also uses it to say things that cannot be said with words alone. Heller once wisely spoke: “Maybe freedom really is nothing left to lose. You had it once in childhood, when it was okay to climb a tree, to paint a crazy picture and wipe out on your bike, to get hurt. The spirit of risk gradually takes its leave. It follows the wild cries of joy and pain down the wind, through the hedgerow, growing ever fainter. What was that sound? A dog barking far off? That was our life calling to us, the one that was vigorous and undefended and curious.”
Frost was a rural Yankee whose writings reflect everyday experiences-his own experiences, but was one who saw metaphorical dimensions in the everyday things he encountered. These everyday encounters held ground in his subject matter, combined with the rural setting of New England nature, seasons, weather and times of day. Frost’s goal was to write his poetry in such a way that it would cover familiar ground, but in an unfamiliar way or uncommon in expression. Works Cited and Consulted Frost and Nature, www.frostfriends.org.
Then in the last stanza Frost mentions woods again. Even though the narrator has a long way to go he always has enough time to stop and watch the small thing in nature in detail. This goes to show that Frost’s interest in nature is very large, and he portrays this through his characters.
...ert Frost 's poems, I now see his poems in a different perspective. I once thought as many do, that Frost 's poems where about nature but now I know that Frost 's true intention was of “taking life by the throat” (Frost Interview). While others consider him as a nature poet, Frost doesn’t believe himself as one and we can see his perspective in his poems but especially in “Mowing,” “After Apple-Picking,” and “The Road Not Taken.” Frost actually uses nature as an analogy to human life experiences or the troubles that people go through. He reflects these poems back to his personal life and the struggles he has been through also. After researching and reading about Robert Frost I have became very fond his work and enjoy looking deeper into his work trying to picture what he truly meant. While Frost uses a simple idea like nature, he relates it back to human nature.