Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost is about the narrator riding his horse through the woods and, as the title says, stopping there on a snowy evening. This story could be taken figuratively or literally.

Figuratively:

“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” (The American Tradition in Literature 900).

The woods seem to resemble his life. Because it is woods and not an open valley, it seems to give his life a negative connotation. The woods belong to someone else. However, Frost questions who this is. Frost questions if God is in charge of his life. If He is, Frost believes that God cannot see him.

“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” (The American Tradition in Literature 900).

This could mean that others might think it odd that he is to be in depression without an appearance of a reason why. And yet, “the darkest evening of the year” may mean that it is the darkest day for him – not an absence of light, but an absence of happiness.

“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 American Tradition in Literature 901).

This stanza could be a reflection of his loneliness. The reader may draw this conclusion from the only sounds being the wind and snow.

“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” (American Tradition in Literature 901).

This stanza seems to reflect that death seems lovely by describing the darkness of the woods are this. However, he has promises to keep and much time before he dies. It suggests that Frost carries on with his life.

Literally:

On the other hand, Frost was quoted saying that he was annoyed by people analyzing his work and “pressing it for more than it should be pressed for. It means enough without its being pressed…I don’t say that somebody shouldn’t press it, but I don’t want to be there.”

This story could simply mean that he was enjoying the woods of a person who lives in the city on a quiet, dark night. The narrator wanted to stay and look into the woods “lovely, dark, and deep”, but needed to get home to his home that is miles away.

Since Frost never told his readers what this poem is to mean, one can only speculate.

Either way, this is a beautifully written poem.