A Snowy Evening with Robert Frost Robert Frost once said, “It begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a loneliness. It is never a thought to begin with. It is at best when it is a tantalizing vagueness.” (“Poetry Foundation” n.d.). This poem holds a lot of mystery in its meaning which has a variety of interpretations. John T. Ogilvie who wrote, “From Woods to Stars: A pattern of Imagery in Robert Frost’s Poetry” interprets this as a poem about the journey through life. James G. Hepburn who wrote, “Robert Frost and His Critics” took a different approach. He believes this poem to be about the aesthetics and moral action. This poem contains a variety of literary devices that not only describe the scenery but …show more content…
As Hepburn says in his article, “Robert Frost and His Critics” “The mood that the poem induces in the reader nullifies his acceptance of the intention expressed by the traveler. The sum of the reader’s experience of the poem is different from the meaning of the traveler’s experience of the woods. Presumably the traveler goes home to supper, to his duties, and to the rest of his journey through life; but these things are not the poem.” Frost made some comments on the factors mood plays in a poem, “… the poet’s intention is of course a particular mood that won’t be satisfied with anything less than its own fulfillment.” (Hepburn 1962). This poem isn’t a recreated experience but meant to be an experience in itself. This poem has some interesting symbolism in it takes us on a journey through a man’s life. When the narrator first stops, instead of questioning himself, he questions what the horse thinks, “My little horse must think it queer” (842). By questioning the horse, he is really questioning his own reasons, which people often do while they make life decisions or everyday decisions. The horse is also a symbol of time the horse is questioning his stopping and urges him to move on to prevent the further loss of time (Anonymous). When the narrator’s horse shakes his harness bells, he then becomes a symbol, as John Ciardi thinks, “..order of life that does not understand why a man stops in the winter middle of nowhere to watch snow come
Robert Frost takes our imagination to a journey through wintertime with 
his two poems "Desert Places" and "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening". These two poems reflect the beautiful scenery that is present in the snow covered woods and awakens us to new feelings. Even though these poems both have winter settings they contain very different tones. One has a feeling of depressing loneliness and the other a feeling of welcome solitude. They show how the same setting can have totally different impacts on a person depending on 
their mindset at the time. These poems are both made up of simple stanzas and diction but they are not straightforward poems.
In the article Ford summarizes the main ideas in Robert Frost’s poem “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening.” Ford explains how there are many meanings to the poem. Throughout this poem, Ford is giving his opinions on what he thinks about Frost’s poem. Also, he explains how there could be many more meanings beneath the surface symbols that Frost presents. Ford proves his ideas and shows what he thinks about the symbols in the poem.
In the second stanza, I see that the speaker wonders about what his horse is “thinking” which shows his interests are also in the outside world too, like his horse. He also takes certain pleasure seeing the scene from what he imagines to be his horse’s perspective. I think his horse is practical in nature, he thinks, while the speaker sits there dreaming, watching the snow fill up the woods. He just stands there dreaming, and thinking about his horse's feelings is the one thing that brings him back to reality. Death comes again in the typical image of night, as we’re told this is the “darkest evening of the year.” Also, it can either be taken literally as the most lightless night, or it can be taken as the night of the darkest emotions. I think that it is a combination of the two, a dark moonless winter night in which the speaker experiences some form of depression or loneliness.
Robert Frost believed in the relation between an emotional journey and a seasonal journey. He illustrates this belief in his poem, “Reluctance,” by using metaphors, specific tones, and imagery. This proves that the speaker in his poem is seeking for a reason to accept the closure of love, influenced by the weather. By using seasonal adjectives and action words, Robert expresses the true feelings one may perceive after the end of a relationship. It also depicts a passionate travel explaining the speaker’s choice of acceptance towards unpleasant situations with a deceptional finish.
Poems are one of the oldest forms of literary expression often times including complex themes. The poem “Come in” by Robert Frost is no exception. The poem provides us with his experience going into the woods, which represent death. The theme of the poem is a description of Frost’s encounter with his personal feelings and emotions, in which he uses “the woods” as a symbol to express what he is feeling. In the poem “Come In”, Robert Frost’s symbolism via birds, and light, imagery of the woods, constant use of metaphors and similes, line breaks, rhyme, and overall sad tone, illustrates the darkness of his thoughts, feelings, and general experiences in his desire to
Frost uses a multitude of poetic devices, including metaphors, irony, symbolism, hyperbole, and personification “Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right. to vividly reinforce the desolation in the mind and the surroundings of the speaker. The uncertainty of the time in the end is a reflection of the uncertainty in the duration of isolation that the speaker would have to continue to endure. In conclusion, this poem displays the transition into night figuratively as the author experiences a broken heart. I have been one acquainted with the night.” (V,2 ). This is a beautiful and dark poem that describes the somber emotions that an individual endures after a separation. This poem can be relatable to anyone as we all have experienced some type of sorrow. Hopefully after experiencing something of this nature we can see the bright lights after being acquainted with the
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 can lead individuals into new worlds and stimulate new ideas, enabling them to speculate about future possibilities. This notion is critically examined throughout Robert Frost’s poem, SBW where he comments in many ways on sense of self, the mystery of nature and their roles in society when captured by nature. The artfulness of SBW consists in the way two worlds, tranquillity vs. reality, are established and balanced, emphasising the pressing calls of the human world and the beauty of nature. The duality of the narrator’s response to the woods is caught in the contrast between the tranquil idiom of “I think I know”, in the first stanza and the abrupt colloquial ‘though’. This presents an implicit comparison between the owner of these woods perceiving them as merely a financial benefit whilst the narrator views the “woods” as a
In the poem Robert Frost uses his rhyme scheme and rhythm to have the sadness flow throughout the entire poem, as his use of terza rima is used to rhyme his words together.\ He also uses alliteration, as to put a point the words in and have the poem have it deep meaning. The sounds used help give it the sad and lonely vibe its suppose to go off, it also gives the poem a simple reading but in reality it has a much deeper meaning, “But not to call me back or say good-by; And further still at an unearthly height One luminary clock against the sky”as
Robert Frost is a great American poet that mastered the art of eloquently imprinting his readers with an overarching idea, or theme, through his use of symbolic language, precise picture painting, and metronome rhyme and meter. Frost addresses many different themes across his poems, but sometimes has similar methods of displaying his themes; three of the most prominent are the crossroads of a decision in “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” the battle between desire and hate in “Fire and Ice,” and the loss of innocence in “Nothing Gold Can Stay.”
Having considered the case of love the narrator is feeling, it is evident of what is being adored in this poem. The title alone alerts the reader of the place, setting and the basic theme of the story. The woods seem to exhibit a calmness and tranquility that encourages the protagonist to stop his journey and rest and in reality, the wilderness represents madness and darkness in the world. Frost opens the first stanza with the self conscious narrator thinking to himself, “Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though”(1-2). The man’s insecurity naturally causes him to be uneasy but the solitude in the woods creates the affection that awes him. Since this story is told from the narrator’s point of view, the reader can now infer that the protagonist is not thinking clearly due to
Robert Frost coveys secret messages throughout the lines of his poem, Bereft. He captures the essence of loss through first-person, and a peculiar rhyme scheme of AAAAABBBCCDDDEDE. The persona of this poem is completely alone in life, and the title suggests that it is due to the loss of a loved one. Identifying the speaker of the poem adds a tremendous amount of meaning to the text, though it is necessary to do a bit of inferring. He alludes to feeling threatened through the explanation of his surroundings—the house and nature.
Frost’s use of alliteration, personification, and imagery definitely conveyed the speaker’s attitude towards the woods. The reader believes Frost wrote about the woods to show how peaceful and calming it is in an isolated place such as the woods. Most people live in crowded neighborhoods or over-populated places, but living in a secluded area decreases the stress of others outside their household. Because of how isolated the woods are, they can worry about themselves compared to worrying and stressing on the outside
“Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words,” Robert Frost once said. As is made fairly obvious by this quote, Frost was an adroit thinker. It seems like he spent much of his life thinking about the little things. He often pondered the meaning and symbolism of things he found in nature. Many readers find Robert Frost’s poems to be straightforward, yet his work contains deeper layers of complexity beneath the surface. These deeper layers of complexity can be clearly seen in his poems “ The Road Not Taken”, “Fire and Ice”, and “Birches”.
The night symbolized death, and the walk was the person's journey to find their lost life. This poem was somewhat disturbing to me. I thought of a lost soul, thirsting to finish a mission that was not completed in life. Frost depicts death in a frightening manner with the contents of this piece of work.