Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening Robert Frost
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.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
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
The first stanza of the poem indicates the setting of the poem. I think the character stops near a house in the middle of a jungle in the winter season. The character stops for a while to admire the looks of the house in the winter season. The writer uses vivid object as woods, house, village, and also snow to portray the situation surrounding. I think the four objects are well connected as village and house are complement so there must be a house in the village. Then woods and village have a correlation as woods usually exist in the village. Moreover, snow for me symbolizes anxiety because it is indeed chill and cold so that it can make anyone feel the fear of dealing with frostbite.
The second and third stanza emphasizes the agony that the character has as depicted by the situation. Woods and frozen lake are two complementary objects. Lake is usually surrounded by woods and I imagine that lake is used to capture the feel of loneliness also supported by darkest evening. What I catch in this stanza is that the feel of deep anxiety of the writer. Then, to justify the anxiety feeling the character shakes the bells on the harness to test whether he is on a stable state of mind or not.
The last stanza gives clarification of the writer’s feeling toward the situation he undergoes. So, the poem generally depicts the condition of the writer’s when he stops near woods in the snowy evening and some objects are used to capture the moods of current state of mind which is cold and frightened.
Overall, this poetry is to show a feeling toward a situation where the writer is trapped in anxiety. Some words used in the poem like woods, snow, village, dark, and frozen, signify the deep anxiety. Also, the setting which is winter season symbolizes agony. Therefore, reading this poem leads into a deep feeling of anxiety and fear. Furthermore, the poem also implies an essence to be aware with live especially in dealing with maturity since mature means more responsibility with self and surroundings.
