Analysis of Robert Frost’s Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

In the fourth and final stanza Frost uses the riming of all four sentences to draw the reader into the climax of the poem, “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”. This grouping leads the reader to feel that

What are the rhythm patterns that Frost uses in the poem (include the scansion and technical methods: alliteration, assonance, and consonance)? Frost uses both masculine rhyme and end rhyme. The masculine rhyme is the rhyming sounds that contain only one syllable such as wood, stood, and should. The end rhyme pattern that Frost uses is, A, B, A, A, B C, D, C, C, D E, F, E, E, F and G, H, G, G, H. (Arp & Johnson, 2009). There are lines of this poem that show the alliteration method, two examples are found in line 6-“then took the”, and line 8- “wanted wear” Assonance also

In Robert Frost’s poem “To the Thawing Wind,” in the literal sense, he is asking the Southwest wind to come, melt the snow and bring spring, but symbolically he is tired of the winter and wants warm weather. He wants to burst out of his cabin and have a good time, not thinking about poetry. The poet has been confined in his winter cabin and is wanting the wind and rain to melt the snow, so it will change his winter isolation. He has been longing for the “thawing wind” because that is when spring is coming. He is anticipating spring to come because it will bring him inspiration and the freedom needed to be able to do new things and enjoy everything good that comes with this season.

The two poems “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening” and “Acquainted with the Night” written by Robert Frost are very similar to each other because of the simplistic form of language used and the uses of metaphors. When we first read the poem, it looks like an ordinary poem but once we go in depth and understand the meaning, it becomes so much more. Both of the poem has a very dark, gloomy and lonely setting with a really mysterious tone. There are different metaphors used in each poem to symbolize death; “Sleep” in “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening” and “Night” in “Acquainted with the Night.” The characters in the two poem are both in a journey and has come

The Use of Literary Devices in Robert Frost's Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

     The poem “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening”, by Robert Frost, is a short, yet intricate poem. What appears to be simple is not simple at all. What appears to be innocent is really not. The woods seem pristine and unimposing, however, they are described as being “dark and deep”, and it is the “darkest evening of the year”. He speaks of isolation, “between the woods and frozen lake” and of duty “But I have promises to keep”. And also, Frost’s usage of “sleep” easily implies death. Though this poem might come off at first to be nice and peaceful, however, that peace has an underlying menace.

Frost also uses the trees in this poem to represent a way to get away from the cares and trials of life on Earth. He talks of getting away and coming back to start over as if climbing “towards heaven”. He desires to be free from it all, but then he says that he is afraid that the fates might misunderstand and take him away to never return. This is like most of us today. We want to go to Heaven, but we don’t want to die to get there.

Throughout the poem many forms of alliteration are presented. In line 1 the repeating “s” sound is strategically placed to create the sound of rain as the reader deciphers the poem. The

why he stopped, may be he doesn’t know himself. May be, he is comparing the beauty of nature to something, but on a symbolic level, the snow strongly reminds me that the poem is set in winter, and which is also widely represented as the image of death.

Winter is a time of cold, when forests die and animals hide from the shrieking winds and biting cold. Winter is a time for survival against the odds. How apt that the speaker is struggling against the "lovely, dark and deep" woods to remember that he has "miles to go before [he] sleep[s]." The "easy wind" calls to him, and the "downy flake" beckons him to a comfortable sleep. If the speaker had paused on a bright summer day, the sleep might be just a short rest, but the poem is set on the "darkest evening of the year" while the "woods fill up with snow," and any rest taken in the "lovely, dark and deep" woods would result in the eternal sleep of death (474).

The speakers saying, “And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth” makes us the reader to believe that he isn’t just speaking of a different path in the woods but a choice that can have unforeseen consequences for his future. Frost uses a rhyme scheme of ABAAB which helped with the flow of the poem. The simple rhyme scheme made the poem pleasant and easily understandable. Frost also implores several literary devices throughout the poem.

Like “The Road Not Taken”, in “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”, the speaker has to make a big decision in his life. He has to choose between isolation and social obligation. At first glance, this poem might denote stopping in the woods to escape the hustle and bustle of city life. Different symbols in this poem though reveal that stop in the poem could be referring to death. In this phrase “Between the woods and frozen lake”, the wood becomes a symbol of life where frozen lake signifies death. When the speaker reaches the woods, he finds a world offering perfect, quiet and solitude, existing side by side with the realization that there is also another world, a world of people and social obligation. Both

Poetry is a literary medium which often resonates with the responder on a personal level, through the subject matter of the poem, and the techniques used to portray this. Robert Frost utilises many techniques to convey his respect for nature, which consequently makes much of his poetry relevant to the everyday person. The poems “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’ and “The mending wall” strongly illuminate Frost’s reverence to nature and deal with such matter that allows Frost to speak to ordinary people.

This does allow the reader to focus on how the horse is shaking his harness bells. “The only other sound’s the sweep” (10). In this line the “O” and “S” sound is being repeated. The reader was able to understand how this line was meant for what the speaker heard during his stop. “The woods are lovely, dark and deep,” in line 13 the “D” sound is being repeated to emphasize the scenery of the woods. By using the words “dark” and “deep” the reader is able to understand the big idea of how the woods must have looked through the speaker’s eyes. Frost was able to grab the reader’s attention to each subject from his use of alliteration throughout the poem.

If one looks close enough, they are sure to find serenity in nature. One element the speaker presents to showcase the beauty of nature is relaxing language.The words the poet incorporates create a calm and still feeling. The only sound in these vacant woods is the “sweep of easy wind and downy flake.” The words “easy” (12), “sweep” (12), and “downy” (12) have a quiet sense to them. The speaker could have described the winds as howling or as something a little more harsh. Instead, he characterizes them as an easy breeze with a smooth whisper to them. He then describes the falling of the snow as a soft and slow descend. Words such as these are typically associated with situations that are calm and quiet. They are words that are simply spoken and easily recognized as soothing. By describing the scene before the speaker with words such as these, the persona shows readers the beauty and simplicity of nature.