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Stopping by Woods Commentary
Stopping by Woods Commentary
Earth
S.
IB
English
SL
Y1
Ms.
Vanessa
Scully
September
14,
2009
Stopping
by
the
Woods
on
a
Snowy
Evening
-‐
Written
Commentary
Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening, by Robert Frost, exhibits
exceptional simplicity and style. As the title implies, the speaker talks about how
he stops “by the woods on a snowy evening” to appreciate the beauty of the
sceneries of the woods in “the darkest evening of the year” (8). In its delicate
simplicity, Robert Frost manipulates the imagery of nature, and engulfs the
reader with a sensational insight to duties and the futility of life.
In the first stanza, the poet makes a vivid reference to divinity, an allusion
to god and supernatural ideologies. “Whose woods these are I think I know,” (1)
may refer the God rather than a person since it makes little sense for a person to
possess the “woods”. One of the most prominent themes of the narrative appears
to be the beauty and appreciation of the “woods”. After all the melancholic tone
used to describe the beautiful creations of God gives the poem an even stronger
implication of it’s meaning; reinforces the night and winter imagery. “To watch
his [God’s] woods fill up with snow,” (4) further develops theme of appreciation
since the speaker is implying that he is stopping just to see the “woods fill up
Robert Frost also closely examines the concept of solitude and seclusion
from civilization along with the development of the speaker’s appreciation of
savagery – the woods’ typical connotation in literatures contrasts directly to the
idea of civilization and is often associated with savagery and chaos. The
mysterious
and
dark
connotation
of
the
“woods”
not
only
extends
the
somber
Earth
S.
IB
English
SL
Y1
Ms.
Vanessa
Scully
September
14,
2009
mood
further
into
the
light
of
comprehension
but
also
introduces
the
reader
to
the symbolic representation of death as the term “woods” exhibits very intense
connotations of difficulties, obstacles, and the state of being lost – the speaker
may be revealing that he is lost in life: “Between the woods and frozen lake.” (7).
More than once, Robert Frosts makes a reference to the “woods”, and treating it
virtually as an extended metaphor of death, suggesting an incessant
development of the theme of the futility of life. In addition, the speaker also
states “the darkest evening of the year,” (8) which exaggerates and intensifies
“The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,” (13) shows the poet’s use of
antithesis, a juxtaposition of “lovely” and “dark”, to emphasize on the
significations of the two words. The arrangement of “lovely” and “dark”, next to
each other may also indicate Gothicism, and ultimately death. The interlocking
rhyme scheme contributes to the continuous abstraction of the unusual and
gothic elements: for instance, “deep” (13) and “sleep” (16) follows the poem’s
universal rhyme scheme. Unsurprisingly, both “deep” and “sleep” convey the
implication of being solitary, dreary and bleak. “Deep sleep,” together carries an
even more robust interpretation, which can be interpreted as “death”.
As the speaker enjoys the “lovely, dark, and deep,” (13) woods, the horse
gives “his harness bells a shake” (9). The poet uses the “bells” as a symbolic icon
representing technology and civilization. On the contrary, the poet states:
flake” (12) is evidently a spontaneous chime caused by nature, while the chime
caused by the “bells” is doubtlessly unnatural, an invention of men. This suggests
the conflict between the speaker’s attitude toward the two binary oppositions:
Finally, the poet concludes the narrative stating, “And miles to go before I
sleep” (15), then repeats the same statement in line 16 giving the closing lines a